Hiratsuka-sensei in Her Youth is not as I expected, Retold!
by stormrs12
Summary: Hikigaya Hachiman is told to save someone important. However, he isn't aware that his friends and family won't be there to support him. What will he do upon realizing that he is alone on this journey? This is a complete re-write of the fan fiction, "Hiratsuka-sensei in her Youth is not the same as I expected". This time, how will the story unfold?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: A setup, a confrontation, a resolution, and most importantly, a beginning.**

Nothingness.

That was all that surrounded me when I came to. No matter which direction I looked, it was all the same. I raised my arms in front of me, and noticed that they were outlined by some neon-blue light. It wasn't just the arms, it was also the case for the rest of my body as well. Since nothing but myself was visible, it seemed as if I was floating in a void.

"What is this place?"

When I took a step, I noticed that there were rings of neon-blue light emitting from under my foot when it landed – the rings would expand a little, then gradually disappear after a second or so. It was like walking on water, except that instead of water, it was nothing. I kept walking until I was far enough from my original position, and looked around. Sure enough..

"Looks like there's nothing here" I muttered.

"Of course, there's nothing here" somebody startled me with their voice suddenly coming from behind.

When I turned around to see who it was, I immediately got another round of emotional rush, although I was more surprised than startled at that point.

"Yahallo, Hikki" the person said, also having her body outlined by neon-blue lights, waving at me like she normally does.

"Yuigahama.."

"Are you surprised?"

Nope, not at all, I promise. I mean, it's normal to have somebody creep up behind you – I'm being sarcastic, if you couldn't tell.

 _Well.. since she was the one who called out to me, maybe she'd know something – let's calm down for a bit_ , I thought.

"What is this place?" I asked, putting my somewhat asinine plan into practice, only to have her giggled back at me.

"Well.." her brows curved into that of a frown as she said it, still smiling,

"I really wish I had the answer.."

Thinking about it, it is obvious that whatever this place is, it wasn't Yuigahama's doing – somebody as bright and cheerful as her wouldn't have thought of something like this. If anything, this looks like a place that I have come up with to represent my thoughts and beliefs.

"Although.." Yuigahama said as she closes her eyes for a short moment, and once they were opened, her face changed to that full of determination.

"I do at least know why we are here"

 _I think I might know what this place is now_.

"Hikki, Hiratsuka-sensei is in trouble.."

 _Now, that's new_ , I thought.

"What trouble, exactly? And how did it get us here?"

"She seems.. I don't know.. alone? Whatever it is, she didn't seem like the person that you and I knew," she said.

I don't know about Yuigahama, but to me, the Hiratsuka-sensei is that I know is a strong and independent women. _But now she's different.. Which means that she's now weak, and more importantly, dependent..? As in, not by herself? Does that mean she's married? – If that's the case then I don't see the problem here_. _In fact, isn't this a win for her_?

"That's why I tried supporting her in some ways.. But none of what I came up with seemed to have worked so far" she said,

"..I kept failing.."

 _If Yuigahama's involved, then maybe this isn't about marriage. What could possibly be more serious than that_?

"I thought that everything was all over, but," she said, pausing for a moment, "as I wished for somebody to come and help me, I suddenly found myself here, right behind you."

 _As I expected, this place isn't a manifestation of anyone's emotions – rather, it's a byproduct of her never-ending perseverance_.

"So, I guess this is how the almighty whatever responded.."

"Haha" that made me chuckled more than I needed to – what made it even more interesting was the fact that "almighty whatever" is the phrase that I would also use, albeit for a completely different reason.

"Hey!" she pouted, "this is serious, you know?"

Was what she said, but..

"Sorry.. Sorry.. Haha"

She could only keep up her serious demeanor for so long before smiling once more. This time however, instead of the same awkward, forced smile she did earlier, it was a genuine smile that gave my heart a warm sensation.

"I mean.. At least that chuckle showed me that you're still sane, and most importantly, human" she said, "if only the Cultural Festival Committee from that time was here, I would be able to show them you're not some heartless monster. Jeez.. to think that they still hold a grudge against you even after entering their third year."

That smile and the warmth that came with it made me completely forgot about the fact that both of us are floating in a weird place. _It's not so bad, I guess_.

"And that's also why, even if you don't know the specifics yet, I am still going to trust you with this," she said,

"Hikki.. Please save Hiratsuka-sensei"

That was really powerful – it was to the point where I was convinced: _I've got to do something_. But as a human being, I still have some doubts – lots, actually. For the meantime, though, I had had decided to summarize all of them into a single, short question:

"How?"

"I.. still don't have the answer," she said, once again forcing a smile, "Although, now that you're here, maybe I'll finally get to know"

"You're not making a whole lot of sense here, Yuigahama"

"I know, haha," she said, "Well.. I can at least tell you that it's probably the best idea to solve the problem at its cause"

"And?" I said, still not knowing what exactly she was trying to convey.

"If this whole thing is really what I think it is, then, you'll meet Hiratsuka-sensei when the seed of her problem starts growing. Be sure to completely dry it out.."

Again, that still didn't make any sense.

As I was about to ask her once more, however, the neon-blue outline on her body started flickering. Holding my hands up in front of me, I could see that the outline on my body was also doing the exact same thing.

"Ah.. it seems like our time here is up.." she said.

"Hey, wait a moment" I said, "what do you mean by that? And most importantly, what exactly should I do?"

"There isn't enough time for an explanation ", she said, "Just remember this, Hikki, when you wake up, you'll be in an apartment somewhere, just get dressed and go to school normally – everything you need is in the closet, even your living expenses. There's literally a treasure chest in there."

"Wait.."

As I stretched my arms out to reach her, rather than getting closer, the distance between us seems to be gradually increasing.

"Wait!" I said once more, still trying to reach out, even though I knew it was completely futile.

"WAIT!" I said – this time however, what I was trying to reach with one arm was not Yuigahama, but a white ceiling. The other arm, rather than being beside my body, was grasping at the edge of a blue blanket that was covering the lower half of my body.

I lowered my arm and sat up in a bed, my face full of sweat, still panting at random intervals from that weird dream. Though, I think it was less like dream, and more like an actual encounter when I took a good look and my surroundings then.

My bedroom seemed to be a lot smaller compared to normal, and as I went out, a small living room was there to be seen. There was a counter to the right, which I assumed was there to limit the kitchen area to a small space. The living room portion was to be everything else to the left.

A TV, a small sofa, a coffee table, and a dinner table with two chairs – a very typical 1LDK – the entire apartment was as big as my own bedroom.

"She was right" I murmured, _I'm really in some random apartment_.

Looking at the wall, I noticed that it was 8AM then, and that reminded me of what Yuigahama said at the end of our "encounter".

 _I guess the best option right now is to go to school. Rather than panicking about the whole thing, I should just ask Yuigahama about last night once I got there_.

I went back into the bedroom to check the contents of the closet, and fair enough, Sobu High's school uniform was in there. Recalling what she said, I searched inside, trying to find a treasure chest filled to the brim with gold-colored goods, only to be met with a drawer full of paper-stuff that are mostly whitish in color.

The ones that stood out from the rest were light brown envelopes. Opening one of them up, there was some amount of money inside it. I assumed this was the "treasure chest" that Yuigahama talked about.

 _Dang it, don't say "literally" when you don't mean it_.

I decided I leave it as it is though, since it wasn't my place. Even if she did say it was my "living expense", that money probably still wasn't mine..

* * *

Showering and hair drying took me around twenty minutes, and by then I was ready to leave the place.

The commute to school wasn't that much different from what it used to be – the apartment was only two train stations further from my house, albeit in the opposite direction.

As I arrived in class, something immediately struck me as odd.

 _They aren't here_?

You know, the usual people: Hayama's group of social elites. Usually, they would have already been here, talking about random things that they could think of. I would be honest, though, the reason I noticed it was because Yuigahama wasn't there – I mean, I did want to ask her something important.

Actually, the other people who were there didn't seem like the regular of this class either, but what do I know, it's not like I knew my classmates. Yuigahama, the rest of the Hayama gang, and I are all in this same class again this year, and that's pretty much all I knew.

 _Come to think about it, I am not really that closer to them, if at all_.

While I did say "I want something genuine", I never said "I'm going to become the most sociable person within a few months"

"Maybe, I'm in the wrong class?" I murmured to myself.

I turned back towards the door, but as I was about to leave, a relatively young-looking man appeared at the door, startling both himself and I. He was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt with a striped necktie, and his black hair was of the average length. It seemed like he was in his mid-twenties.

 _He's probably a teacher_ , I figured.

That was when I realized that I was definitely in the wrong class, since I have never seen that teacher before.

"Where are you going? Homeroom is about to start"

"Excuse me, Sensei, I think I'm in the wrong cla-"

"Ah, wait a sec.. You're Hikigaya-kun, aren't ya?" he said, "I've been looking for you"

 _What kind of trouble have I gotten myself into this time.. I don't think I've written anything criticizing youth recently_..

"Since this is your first day, I'll have you introduce yourself to the class"

"Huh?"

 _There must have been some sort of misunderstanding_.

"But I have been at this school for two years already" I said.

"Oh, so you're that kinda guy!" he said, breaking into a small laughter, "Jeez, I haven't heard such a good joke in weeks – Thank you, I feel like today's gonna be a good day!"

 _She'd know I'm not joking_.

"No, I really mean it, Hiratsuka-sensei would have my name in her list," I said, "She'd know."

Rather than laughing, the teacher made a stunned face suddenly, as if finally realizing something serious.

"Oh, so you're.. that kinda guy?" he said once more, this time a lot less enthusiastically. With his face turned to that full of curiosity, he followed up with,

"Hiratsuka-"sensei"? I never knew you were into that sorta thing, Hikigaya!" he said, going back to a full smile, "Wow, to think you'd go as far as to express your fantasies just to approach an acquaintance. I never thought today's youth would be so creative."

I was lost for words. If this was some sort of practical joke, then that was taking it too far.

"Our class already has a female joker. It seems like the male joker has just arrived today!"

 _No, you're the joker_!

"Sensei–"

"Hikigaya-kun, it'd really love for this to go on, I really do, but homeroom is about to begin," he interrupted, looking genuinely disappointed after taking a look at this watch. I seemed to have made that face, too, judging from his next statement (although I probably did for a completely different reason).

"Don't worry, if she really knows you, then she'd recognize you. You can have your reunion during lunch – I'll even make sure to distract the 5th period teacher a bit if you need extra time. For now, though, there are other things we need to do."

"That's not.. "

As the misunderstanding was getting out of hand, my attention was suddenly turned toward the many pair of eyes that were beyond the sensei's shoulder. I had only realized it then, but..

 _The sensei is blocking their way while talking to me_!, I gasped.

Tiptoeing, I looked over more clearly and saw a crowd of students standing outside, seemingly running out of patience as their stern faces became clearer and clearer by the second. It was especially clear with the short-haired girl who was right behind the teacher, she had this murder intent expressed through both of her eyes.

"Sorry, I'll go take a seat" I said, heading straight to what would have been my own seat were I in my own class.

As I ran away from the view of the potential mob, he had the word "I told you so" written all over his face, as if he was just standing there on purpose.

When everyone settled down on their seats, the teacher went straight to the point.

"Alright, everybody, today I would like to announce that we have a new student," he said, "Hikigaya-kun, why don't you stand up and introduce yourself"

 _I guess I'll just go along for now_.

I had yet to become familiarize with socializing, and that goes without saying that I didn't know how to create a good impression of myself, either.

 _I hope this will be a great year for us all_?

 _I'm looking forward to working with all of you_?

Sentences keep going in and out of my head, and none of them seemed to have been good enough to have come out of my mouth. Having stood still for long enough, I decided to just go with the bog-standard introduction, deciding to leave all the sugar-coating out. Considering that I didn't had to go back to that class ever again, it should have been fine.

"My name is Hikigaya Hachiman, nice to meet all of you" I said, bowing slightly.

In response, the class did the obligatory applause for a short moment. As I sat back down, the clapping sound died off in an instant, and nobody seemed to have said anything.

It was more positive than I had thought, but had it been an actual self-introduction, then I would have considered it a complete failure.

"This is his first day at school, so try to be so hard on him, alright" the teacher said,

"Now then, let's get to the attendance check"

At that point, I just didn't give it much thought anymore.

"Minakami Mai"

"Here"

I was just hoping that after the roll call, the teacher would just go "gotcha!".

"Naganohara Mio"

"Here"

And then, everybody involved would just laugh it off.

"Aioi Yuuko"

"Here"

Although, I did wonder if this whole thing was really worth it for those behind it.

"Hanasaki Saki"

"Here"

 _Well, whatever_.

"Hiratsuka Shizuka"

...

"Huh?"

The person who had that name didn't say that.

That was me, after hearing something that shouldn't have been there.

"Here" that person finally said.

I turned to the direction that the voice came from. Toward the window, at one of the seat right beside it, sat a girl who didn't look any older than the other girls surrounding her.

 _Nah, that gotta be a different person, right_?, my conscious mind tried reasoning with my inner self. However, no matter how I looked at her, my subconscious wouldn't conclude anything else other than the fact that that girl was indeed the person I knew.

Those gray eyes, and those black hair that, while didn't touch ground, was long enough to have been a hindrance in some cases.

The only thing uncharacteristic of that person was her totally indifferent expression. Contrast that with the disciplined and determined (and sometimes caring) expression of that person, had it not been for the appearance, I wouldn't have even made the connection. Even without her lab coat, there was still a striking resemblance.

That line of thought resulted in my brain receiving a slight nudge, but still being fixated on a certain girl, it didn't bother me too much.

I started praying to the "almighty-whatever" in my head, praying that it was a part of the joke that she would dress up younger, and by the end, she would be one of those people who would laugh at me for a while.

But, again, no truth can escape your inner self.

I knew from the bottom of my heart, that the girl wasn't aware of my struggle, and that no one else was either, not even the teacher who kept messing with me.

I was the only one in on the joke.

Upon that realization, that sight nudge turned into a full, hard-as-a-meteor throb. With that, my hand went straight for the side of my head, trying to suppress whatever was pounding into it continuously.

 _If this is Yuigahama's way of pulling my leg, then she may as well have ripped them off_.

"Hikki"

 _Why would she do this_.

"Hikki" her voice kept echoing in my head.

 _No.. she wouldn't have the ability to do something of this sort_.

"Hikki!"

 _If it's not her, then who.. or what_?

"Hikigaya!"

That voice came from somewhere else, and it sounded like a man's voice rather than that of Yuigahama. Nevertheless, it pull me back to reality.

"What are you doing? You don't even have your book out" a teacher said.

 _It's a different teacher from the one earlier_.

"Were you daydreaming about something?"

"No.. I'm sorry"

"This may be your first day, but that isn't an excuse to slackoff" he said, "Well, nevermind about the book, just read this passage here on the board"

"Yes," I said, standing up as per Japanese classroom etiquette.

Still haven't put myself together, I looked at whatever was written on the blackboard. It was actually a passage from a novel I have already read, so it shouldn't have been much of a problem.

However, there was something off about it: the name of the character was different from what I remembered.

"Yuigahama opened the door and found that it led to a small passage." I started reading, knowing full well that it things weren't how it was supposed to be,

".."even if my head would go through," thought poor Yuigahama. "It would be-""

"Stop right there, Hikigaya" the teacher said with a stern look on his face, "Is this some sort of a joke?"

"No it's not.."

"I know you probably would like to go to on a vacation at Yuigahama beach right now," he said, "but let me tell you that it won't happen until the end of semester, and if you're not going to take this seriously, I'm going to make sure it won't happen then, either"

"No, I.." but as I was about to make an excuse to what I thought was an unreasonable criticism, I looked back at the blackboard once more and realized the reason the teacher was so ticked off.

The name of the character from the passage was now "Alice" like how I remembered it.

"I am.. really sorry" I said.

The teacher, upon realizing that I was being genuinely troubled, dropped his stern look in an instant.

"No matter.. just get yourself together, alright? Your entrance exam is on the second semester.. I'm sure Kasuga-sensei told you that" he said, now making a disappointed face, "You can sit down now"

Really not an impression anyone would want to show on their first day, wasn't it?

Sitting back down, I took out my phone and, lo and behold, it was 12:30, exactly twenty minutes before lunch break. I had no idea such short thoughts would have taken me almost the entire first half of the day, _but then again, apparently time leaping is a thing, so that may have been a part of it, probably.. I don't freaking know anymore._.

I wished the class would end soon so that I could go to the toilet and wash my face. However, now that I was made conscious of the remaining time, it was like sitting on a flight from Tokyo to the U.S., having no toilet on board.

The sound of the chalk hitting on the board didn't make it much better, either. Each time the powder stick was dragged across the dry, green surface, a shockwave is sent across my head. If my brain was an island nation, its government would have issued a 10 magnitude earthquake warning with a possibility of aftershock.

Had I needed to wait for Friday to come in that state, I would have gone so mad, the mental ward would kick me out the next morning.

When that bell finally rang, I shot up from my desk, leaving everything on it as they were and headed straight for the door, and out to the toilet.

The only thing left was to get to the toilet that was at the end of the hallway, by the stairs.

Somehow, it took longer than it should have, with the hallway, and subsequently the classroom doors and windows, elongating and contracting, even tilting acutely to the side after each step I took. At least, that's how it was to my eyes.

I went into the toilet and headed for the tap and twisted open for my long awaited wash. When a splash of water reached my face, it was as if a part of my troubles melted away down the drain along with the clear liquid. I still didn't feel stable, but It was the most composed I was able to be after the revelation, and it was good enough for me at that time.

Having calmed down somewhat, I went back to the hallway in order to head back to my class.

Suddenly, as I went out of the toilet, a girl ran up the stairs at the left, and turned to my direction.

"AHHH!"

"Woah!"

Her sudden appearance undid all the composure I was able to achieve from the face wash in less than a second.

In an instant, my butt was on the ground with my both my arms supporting my back.

"Are you alright?"

"Hey, you aren't hurt, are you?"

"Hey!"

Were the things she seemed to have said. I could only guess, since all that entered my ears then was some white noise – to me, she was just flapping her lips up and down randomly.

She slowly approached me, trying to calm me down, but my mind and body seemed to have the opposite idea of her. My survival instinct kicked in as if it thought the girl in front of me was a hungry lion. With each step she took, I dragged myself back with my hands.

When my back reached what felt like a wall, the feeling of hopelessness engulfed my entire being, like a prey that was about to be eaten. At that point, I started going hazy, and my vision began to fade to black. As the girl got to me, everything went completely dark.

I had no idea what went on after that, but when I came to immediately afterwards, half of my vision was blocked by a shade of some kind, while to other half was filled with the sky.

 _Oh, so I'm at the rooftop_..

My head was elevated at a nice angle as it rested on a soft object – It was really comfortable.

"Have you calmed down?" someone said, as their face moved into view.

It was a girl who came up the stairs. Her hairstyle was a black, short bob that terminates at the collar – a very common sight for a schoolgirl. She had a pair of light blue eyes, which accompanied her hair color quite well.

"Yeah, I think so" I replied.

"That's good, then" she said, giving me one of the brightest smile I have seen.

Looking at her face, I started getting self-conscious as I felt my cheeks burning up. Then, as I realized I my head was resting on her lap, I immediately shot up and backed off. I didn't have a mirror then, but I knew just from the heat that my face shared a great resemblance to a ripe tomato. She definitely knew it too, since she was giggling really hard.

"You look really cute when you're all flustered like that!"

 _Don't get the wrong idea_! _She's just a nice girl who's trying to help you_!

 _..Ah, I wanna die_!

"But.. I'm glad you're okay" she said, toning down her smile, "I'm sorry for surprising you like that – I shouldn't have been in such a hurry"

"No, don't apologize.. that was all on me" I said, "a normal person wouldn't just freak out like that"

"Yeah, what was up with that? It was such an incredible reaction!" she said.

I couldn't tell whether or not she was being genuinely curious, or just plain sarcastic, but she did have a point. Why did I act that way? I really wasn't so sure of it either.

"Who knows.. Maybe I was overwhelmed by all the new things.. I mean, this is my first day at this school" I said. Well.. when you think about all the things that had happened today, it wouldn't be wrong to consider it my first day.

"That makes sense, I guess" she said, "I mean, I could tell from your self-introduction this morning that something was troubling you.. Maybe that's why"

 _Oh, so she's a classmate.. now the news about me losing my mind and resting on a girl's lap will spread like wildfire_.

"You're really lucky that I am the one who ran into you, you know?" she said, "Had it been someone else, the whole school would know about you freaking out by next morning"

 _Great, so it was a one in something-hundred chance of survival – how lucky of me_.

"It didn't help that Kasuga-sensei totally messed with you this morning," she said, giggling in between, "Blocking the door really didn't do well with your classmates' first impression of you"

"You saw that?!"

"Of course I did! Haha"

 _Actually.. wait a sec_.

And that was when I remembered:

 _She was the first person in line – right behind him_!

"I see you have finally realized!" she said.

"But why.. the face?" I said, recalling that everybody behind the teacher was making an expression akin to that of a lynch mob participant.

"I mean, I really didn't wanna stand out, y'know? Besides, it was really funny looking at your face!" she said, before bursting into a small laughter.

"Gah.."

 _Could she be the "female joker" that he told me about this morning_?

After the her laughter died down, the atmosphere went completely quiet. Although, the silence that came about was not the awkward kind you'd get when you don't know what to talk about next. In fact, it was a sort of signal for me to transition into something a bit serious.

Although, I felt like she wouldn't share the same sentiment, for obvious reasons.

"Umm.. Hey, you"

"Ah, right, I still haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I?" she said,

"My name is Saki, Hanasaki Saki. You have already introduce yourself this morning, but.. nice to meet you anyway, Hikigaya-kun!"

With the abrupt formalities out of the way, I went straight back to business. Without even asking, I already knew the sort of answer I was going to get, but I wanted a confirmation anyway.

"Hanasaki," I said, addressing my new acquaintance for the first time.

"Yeah?"

"What year is it?"

Rather than giving an immediate answer in the form of a number, she instead made a surprised expression, similar to the one that the homeroom teacher made this morning.

"Hikigaya-kun.." she said, her face now full of seriousness.

I guess it was to be expected. I mean, you wouldn't just ask somebody the current year unironically, would you? She probably thought I was messing with her.

"Are you perhaps.. A time traveller?"

Apparently she didn't.

Somehow, that unexpected reply caught me off guard, and it sent one big chill down my spine. I couldn't tell whether or not she was joking – the big pause that ensued didn't help with the situation either.

 _But, if she knows, then I could definitely ask her for help, right_?

"Hanasaki.. I"

"Just kidding!" she said, raising her arms in the air, negating all the seriousness she just built up, "Ahaha.. Your face was totally priceless!"

 _I knew it, this girl is the female joker_!

"Sorry, sorry.. You were probably serious about it" she said.

 _I prefer "definitely"_.

"It's 2003," she said "Well, sometimes you do get the year mixed up, especially during the first few months, so I guess it's not really that weird of a question, after all."

Once again, I already knew that was the sort of answer I was getting (Save for all those stuff in between). While knowing the exact answer wasn't in any way reassuring, I can at least get one thing off my brain now, namely, "when the seed of Hiratsuka-sensei's problem began to grow".

Judging from what I have seen today, and the answer I just got, the premise of this whole thing became clear: something must have happened to her during high school which would leave her emotionally scarred for life, or at the very least, made it take a turn for the worse. What Yuigahama wanted me to do was to stop that from happen.

"Ah, there's the bell – let's get back to class, Hikigaya-kun!"

"Yeah"

However, although I was satisfied with the information I pieced together, many questions still popped up in my head upon making the connections.

 _What really happened to Hiratsuka-sensei.. Or rather, what's going to happen to her_?

 _Someone, or something led me, who she knows in her late twenties, to this place and time – does that mean that the problem is at its peak during my high school days_?

 _If so, then why would it take a decade for the problem to manifest itself. Wouldn't something like that happen soon after a major event of some kind_?

Those were the significant ones among them.

I knew what happened today was just the beginning, and things would happen later during my time here, which I'm sure would provide me with the answers I wanted.

There's also the question of how I was to supposed to support myself at a time like this, knowing full well that none of my relatives now would believe anything my current self has to say.

But considering that I woke up in an apartment, I believe I would be able to get a clue on how to tackle these if checked that place out again, which is something I planned to do after school. It was probably the best place to start – Yuigahama did have a lot of confidence when guiding the place to me in that short amount of time. Most importantly, I had the key to the place, so it wouldn't hurt to check things out.

But before that, there was something that I wanted to see for myself.


	2. Chuo-Sobu 1

**Chapter 2: Slowly, Hikigaya Hachiman takes his first steps.**

It wasn't exactly a smooth ride at the beginning, but I somehow managed to get by during these past couple of days. Some people would think the hardest part about being alone in the past is supporting oneself financially. However, given the circumstances, that had not been the case for me – in fact, all of the basic needs had somehow been provided, and would it be for the time that I would be spending here.

That day, the day I was brought to this time and place, I went back to that apartment I woke up in. Normally, I wouldn't want to intrude on other people's property, but considering that's where I was when I came to, and that all of the necessities were all there, I couldn't help but think that somebody setup that place specifically for me. Sure, the owner might come back one day, but it was the only choice I had, besides sleeping on the road at night. _That's why, at least for the time being, I will be staying there_.

No, that wasn't the hardest part.

The hardest part is knowing that you wouldn't be seeing anybody you know anytime soon. I am not really the type to lie on the floor weeping, "I am not going to see my family ever again!", but I am still a human being.

Yes, I am used to being alone, but this is type of "loneliness" that I am experiencing here in the past isn't the same thing.

As I was at my seat, pondering about what my life have become, one particular seat near the window caught my attention. Specifically, it was the people who were that got me curious.

Hanasaki was standing there, speaking to Hiratsuka who was sitting there to begin with. Pressing her palms together, Hanasaki, with her usual smile, seemed to be asking something of Hiratsuka, who seemed to be making a troubled face and presumably declining whatever she was asked to do. The girl who was standing there made a disappointed smile, as if rejection is the usual response, and retreated back to her own seat at the opposite end of the classroom, in front of the one in front of me.

I walked over to her desk, curious about what went on between them. Although, in reality, it was probably just an excuse for me to gather more information about the person I was tasked to save.

"Hey, Hanasaki" I said.

"Ah, Hikigaya-kun, what's up?"

"You were talking with that girl just now, weren't you?" I said, "What was that about?"

"Oh, you mean Hiratsuka-san? we–"

And, just like our first encounter, rather than simply answering the question like she was going to, she decided on the fly that a shocked expression was a better response.

"Hikigaya-kun.. you"

I knew I was in for a ride, and it wasn't going to be a fun one.

"You have only been here for a couple of days, and now you're thinking of hitting on a girl?!" she said, covering her mouth with her hands, "How bold!"

 _Gah, this girl_!

"No.." I said, having facepalmed long before she even said anything, "How should I put it?.. She's an acquaintance."

"Hehe, I know that" she said, now smiling normally, "Remember, I was standing right behind Kasuga-sensei, so I pretty much heard everything."

 _So all that acting was totally pointless, I see_.

"So.. what was that?" I guided to conversation back to where it was before her comedy routine.

"Hiratsuka-san was supposed to send in her future plans questionnaire two weeks ago" she said, "Without it, she won't be allowed to have a proper counseling session with a university referrer."

 _Weird, she doesn't seem like the type who would do this kinda work_. On top of that, it is usually the Class Representative's job to collect these things. With her personality, she doesn't look like someone who would hold that position.

"Shouldn't the Class Rep be doing that?" I asked, assuming right from the get go she didn't have any of the required skill set. She definitely noticed that, judging from the very brief pout she did before returning to her normal, bright expression.

"Yeah, it's her job, but she got tired of asking everyday" she said, "That's why she asked me to do it instead"

 _Huh, never knew you could do that_.

That aside, I find it strange how Hiratsuka-sensei.. Er.. Hiratsuka would be at a loss about the future. Being under her supervision for a almost a year, I thought it wouldn't be so far-fetched to assume that she would definitely go on to pursue a Degree in Education after graduating High School. Apparently I was wrong.

With that doubt in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to go and ask her directly. Obviously, I couldn't do it without knowing her well enough to ask her something so personal. That's why I decided that during lunch break, I would try to approach her to at least set the groundwork for me to get closer to her later on.

Immediately after the fourth bell rang, she swept all that was on her desk into her bag in one shot, seemingly not caring at all whether or not her actions would damage her textbooks. It wasn't hard to guess that she was in a hurry to go somewhere, and with that in mind, I made my way to her seat and greeted her, expecting a somewhat friendly exchange.

That said..

"Umm.. Hiratsuka, right?"

"Yes. What is it?"

 _I clearly haven't thought this through_!

The plan was all good until it was actually executed. After her response, no further topics of conversation seemed to have come to my. If was as if I was staring Medusa in the eyes, but instead of my body turning into stone, it was only my brain that shut off. That left me standing there staring at her like a complete retard for what felt like eternity, even though only a second or two had passed.

 _Right, introduce yourself, Hachiman – she probably doesn't know you yet_!

"Oh good. I'm Hikigaya Hachiman, I just transferred here a couple of days ago." I said.

"I know that," she said, her expression still lacking any visible emotions, "You have already introduced yourself."

 _I didn't expect anyone to remember me with that sort of self-introduction_.

I wasn't off to a smooth start, but at least I got the first step down (I think). At that point, my mind was still completely blank, but I since I have already passed the point of no return, I kept moving forward. I started reaching deep within my mind, desperately looking for anything that would work.

 _This should work_.

"The weather is nice today."

"Yes, it is."

 _Uh, what else.._?

"Have you heard? There's a new restaurant by the station" I pushed on. As I said that, I heard a rapid puffing coming from somewhere, but it wasn't Hiratsuka – her expression was still the same.

"Yes, I have eaten there."

"Really, how was it?"

"It was fine."

"..."

"..."

At at moment, I was just standing there trying not to lose my mind. On the other hand, Hiratsuka seemed to be completely unfazed. In fact, during these past few days, I had yet to see her express an emotion, whatsoever. However, staying silent seemed to have changed that, as her expression turned to that of confusion.

 _That's right, a joke! That'll lighten up the mood_.

"Why did the chicken not cross the road?"

"Why?"

"Because he'd stand out, and society doesn't like people who break norms"

"Huh?!"

As soon as I finished saying that, a loud, heavy laughter erupted, accompanied by a series of desk hitting.

 _I got her!.. wait a sec_..

But, looking at her face one more, Hiratsuka still had that confused look on her face.

 _So, where is it coming from_?

As I thought that to myself, I heard a loud thud from the opposite end of the room, with the laugh still hadn't subsided one bit. That laugh came from none other than Hanasaki, who was on the floor, wiping her never ending tears of amusement.

"Umm.. " Hiratsuka said, pulling her eyebrows together slightly, "If you have nothing else to ask me, then I'll be on my way"

"No, I mean.. Uh, sorry for keeping you here" I finally admitted the futility of my attempt, "I just heard about you from Hanasaki, so I thought I'd come and say Hi."

"Oh, so that's how it is," she said, bringing her eyebrows closer to each other than it already was, as if making some sort of realization.

"Huh?"

"First it was Hanasaki-san, and now you, the new student" she said, "the Student Council is fine with using anyone they can get their hands on, I see."

"Wait, what are you on about?"

"Don't play dumb. But then again you don't have to – you probably are already dumb yourself," she said, "They told you about how it's important for my future, and you ate it all up."

I kept quiet, knowing that no matter what I said, it won't get through her wall.

"I have said it many times, and I continue to say it: I'm not handing it in. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something meaningful to do." she said, before taking off.

"Hey, wait–" I said.

"Just let her be" someone said from behind.

Turning around, a girl slowly approached me. She had a relatively short, light brown hair, which was tied into a ponytail at one side of her head. Her pose as she stopped in front of me, having one hand on her hips, let out an aura of dependence that was akin to the Hiratsuka-sensei that I knew more than the girl who just walked out.

"She has been like that ever since last year's Cultural Festival" the girl said.

Initially, I thought it was such a coincidence that Cultural Festival would be a hotspot for troubles like these. _Well, in a big event like that, there is bound to be conflict sooner or later_ , I thought after thinking about it for a moment.

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"It's not really about what happened to her – rather, it was more of what she did," she said, looking down at Hiratsuka's seat, "She screwed up, and that ended up costing the event."

It was hard to imagine that someone as dependable as her would screw so bad, the whole thing would fail. Then again, this Hiratsuka person isn't really the person that I know.

"Sounds really bad, if that was enough to make her like that" I said.

"I don't know the specifics either, but to give you the idea, It was bad enough that she stopped interacting with other people," she said, "Some people tried reaching out to her, like you just did, but they all eventually gave up"

 _That doesn't sound like the only cause though – Hiratsuka did mention that thing_.

"She seems to have a beef with the Student Council" I said.

"Ah, that last thing she said? Yes, she really does" the girl said with a slight smile accompanying her worried face, "I was the one who supposed to collect that Future Plans form from her, but I gave up on her too, as Saki may have already told you"

"Yes, she did," I said, but as I immediately made the connection to what Hanasaki told me earlier, I followed up with,

"Wait, so you're the–"

"You guessed it"

The girl pulled her legs close to each other, and held up a two-finger salute, pointing it toward the end of her right eyebrow.

"I'm Miyo, Omiya Miyo, 3F's representative," she proudly announced, "Pleased to meet you, Hikigaya Hachiman-kun"

"Likewise" I said, copying her boy's scout-like pose, although not as enthusiastically.

While that encounter did not go as planned, I was at least able to get something out of it. Judging from her past interactions with Hiratsuka, there were probably something I could learn from this Omiya girl.

"Now that we're acquainted, is it alright if I comment on a thing or two?"

"Fine by me"

"Alright, ahem.."

God knows what she wanted to say right after her own self-introduction, but considering how she acted just then, she probably just wanted to give a little speech in regards to this "fateful encounter" or whatever.

"What the heck was that!?" the newly acquainted Omiya said – or more accurately, bursted out.

 _Eh_?!

"You call that "approaching someone"?!" she said, pulling on her hairs with both hands, "Argh! That has got to be the worst attempt I have ever seen in my life!"

 _Somehow.. I got that completely wrong_.

"Seriously, "the weather is nice today"? How much more cliched could you have possibly been?"

 _You try come up with something better_!

"And that's not even the worst part," she said, inching closer as she pointed at my face, "That joke really came outta nowhere, and not to mention it was the crappiest I've ever heard"

I turned toward the door side of the classroom, checking whether or not the joker girl was still on the floor, enjoying herself with all the mishaps I was going through. Turns out, she was already dragging herself towards me, having lost all her mobility from all that laughing.

"Hey, hey.. Miyo-chan, give him a break," the girl who was still giggling and panting in between her speeches said, her eyes still slightly red from all those tears of amusement, "Hikigaya-kun is trying his best, right?".

Once again, I couldn't tell whether or not Hanasaki was being sarcastic. Her being amused didn't exactly boost her credibility.

"You're way too kind on him, Saki!" Omiya said, "What if he'd try to approach somebody that way again?"

"Alright, alright.. Haha" Hanasaki said, holding onto my shoulder as she was losing her balance.

"In the first place, why did you approach her anyway?" the Class Rep said, "Neither of you look like the social-type."

 _Now that really hits home_ , I thought as I sighed.

"Hanasaki said she's having some problems with Hiratsuka," I said in a slightly annoyed tone, "Since she's somebody I knew, I thought I would be able to do something"

As I said that, Omiya's mouth widen up as her eyes lit up like it had found her a treasure.

"Hikigaya.. "

 _No, I don't want anymore "hit on a girl on your first week" jokes_.

After a short moment, she made the same smile that resembled that of Isshiki Iroha – it was a smile a fox would make as it saw its prey.

She puts her curved index finger on her chin, and with those mischievous smile on her face, she started hunting.

"Are you free this afternoon?" she asked.

"I don't have anything important to do, at least" I said.

"Great, then it's decided" she said, "This afternoon, after the last period, go with Saki to the Student Council's room"

"Huh!?"

"Eh?!"

Hanasaki and I said in unison, with only myself following up with,

"Why do I need to do that?"

"Hikigaya, I want you to help Saki with her job today," Omiya revealed.

"Miyo-chan–"

"What kinda job?" I asked, unintentionally cutting Hanasaki off.

"Her job at the Student Support Team," Omiya said, "just ask Saki about the details when you got–"

"I'll pass" I said, cutting the Class Rep off, this time very much intentionally.

"Wha?!" she said, making a face as if it was the first time someone had ever denied her "invitation",

"But, why?"

"Sounds absolutely tiresome" I said.

Her mouth was kept opened for the short duration of her shock, only for her to close them and do a snarky smile a moment later with her hand touching her lower lip.

"Now that's unfortunate – for you, that is," she said, staring into my eyes while having her head tilted a little.

Slowly inching closer, her face eventually made its way to the side of my head. All that was in front of me at the time were her right shoulder, and her neck, which was stretched to the left until I could only barely see her ears out of my peripheral vision.

"'Transfer student shamelessly makes a move on his classmate' – that doesn't sound like a good headline, doesn't it?" she whispered, "Just so you know, the President of Newspaper Club is a close friend of mine."

"Alright, alright," I said, backing off with my hands up in front of me, "I'll check the Student Council out, alright"

"I'm glad you agreed to it" she said, to which I would say: _my butt_!, "I'm not even telling you to join, Hikigaya. All I'm asking is for you to help Saki today – she has quite a bit on her plate at the moment."

To be completely honest, had she said that last thing at the beginning, I might have agreed to it sooner. It's not like I do not understand how hard on a person I would be to have to shoulder all the responsibilities. But then again, it's not like Omiya was there with me in the future to see all the problems being pushed onto Yukinoshita.

Nevertheless, that was how I was going to spend my afternoon.

* * *

"I'm really sorry that you have to come with me today, Hikigaya-kun," Hanasaki said as she and I entered the Student Council room, "Miyo-chan can be bit forceful sometimes"

 _Define 'a bit_ ', I thought. That thing that happened during lunch time really made me wonder, how many people have she recruited to the council that way?

"Don't worry about it," I said, "I'm not going to be doing something important anyway"

"That's good then" she said, smiling as she looked down toward a box on a table.

"But I didn't expect that you'd be in the Student Council, Hanasaki' I said, only to realize immediately how stupid that statement was, "Ah.. I mean–"

"Ahaha, don't worry about it – I never thought I would end up doing this, either" she said with a much softer voice than usual, "Kasuga-sensei suggested this job to me, and I decided to do it"

That thing, especially the last part, sparked a bit of curiosity in me. If only I knew her better at the time, I would have dug a lot deeper into it.

"So, what does your team do?" I said, burying that topic.

"Here," she said, holding up a small box that she looked at just earlier. Opening it up revealed a pile of pieces of paper of varying colors and sizes, all of them seemed to have been ripped from a notebook or a report pad.

"Take a look at one or two of those" she said.

When I did that, I found something that made me realized how her team got its name.

" _Please help me with my literature homework, Mon, 12:50pm, cafeteria."_

" _Please tell me how to approach a girl from my class, Fri, 8:00am, 2A's homeroom_."

"Hanasaki, aren't these.."

"Yup! You guessed it," she said, "those are requests the students made for the Student Council, and its the job of the Student Support Team to carry those out"

 _So it's exactly like that club, huh_.

Since Hanasaki didn't seem to oppose it – if anything, she seemed rather encouraging – I searched the box further. Much like the papers, the requests that came on them are of various difficulties, ranging from the most mundane as helping student with their revision, to as big a helping a club organize an event. There didn't seem to be anything other than that.

Eventually though, something caught my eye: something that really stood out of the bunch, something very.. vague.

" _Please rely on me._ "?

No date, time, or location, not even a description that expands on that broad statement.

"Ah, that – sometimes we get weird requests like that" Hanasaki said, "Usually I just throw them out, but since that was the first ever request we ever got, I just kept it as a lucky charm, I guess."

"I see"

Other than that, the rest were pretty normal, although..

"Please clean Newspaper Club's storage room.." I read it outloud,

 _and the date, time, and location_..

"Wait, isn't that today?"

"Yup"

"That's weird," I said, "that doesn't sound like a small request, and yet you're the only member here today"

"Well," she said, averting her eyes, pointing her index fingers toward one another, "I'm the only member of this team"

 _Oh_. _So that's what Omiya meant when she said Hanasaki has a lot on 'her' plate_..

"Alright, then.. " I said, having made up my mind after a short pause, "Where's the Newspaper Club's storage room?"

"Eh!?"

With her hands still pointing toward one another from the her previous embarrassment, she brought her eye contact back toward me, with her mouth gaped open.

"Hikigaya-kun.."

Her reaction really said something about this whole situation. The Support Team was severely understaffed, having only one member, and not many people seemed to have volunteered to help. It made me wonder, why couldn't the Student Council just recruit more members?

"Are you..," she said, bringing her face forward a little, "Are you hitting on me?!"

 _I'm sorry for offering you a hand_!

"Just.. " I said, my left hand still covering my entire face, and it wasn't to hide my embarrassment, "Take me to that storage room, alright?"

Rather than keeping up with her charade, she immediately backed off as I expressed my annoyance.

"Al– Alright, follow me"

The walk to the Newspaper club's storage room did not take that long – it was probably because of the familiarity – it was pretty much the same path I usually took when going to the Service Club's room, the only difference was that this was a bit closer. Compared to how it was on my first day, it was like a walk in the park. But then again, I was already used to the fact that I am all alone in the past.

"And that's what Kasuga-sensei said to her."

"Now, that's just dumb"

"Hikigaya-kun, so mean! Haha"

Although, I suspect that being able to have a normal conversation with an acquaintance mitigated my perception of time somewhat. That is something I find very odd: why was I able to talk to Hanasaki with little to no problem, but when I tried approaching Hiratsuka, everything just fell apart. It all doesn't add up, considering the fact that I have known the latter for much longer.

"Hmm... the door is open?" she said as we arrived. After taking a quick look inside the storage room, she exclaimed, "Eh?!"

"What's is it, Hanasaki?"

After walking around the storage room for a short moment, looking at the stuff from top to bottom, she concluded, "Yesterday, when I came here to check this room out with Miyo-chan, it was a lot messier than this"

"Is that so?"

"Yup," she said with a quick, confirming nod, "it's like, half of the work has already been done."

In order to give myself the idea of how it would take, I decided to walk around the storage room as well. There was a shelf beside the wall to the left which held many different folders, most of which are organized neatly in categories. Taking a good look, it did seem like somebody was already here not long ago, and they left in a hurry – some of the folders were left lying on the shelf, near where they were supposed to be.

As I approach the shelf, I noticed a small, light brown object lying on a floor.

"A pickled bamboo shoot?" I murmured, kneeling down.

 _No, it's a plastic keychain of one_ , I thought as I picked it up, _what is it doing in a place like this_?

"What's wrong, Hikigaya-kun?" Hanasaki said, noticing that I was stopped on my tracks, doing something.

"Nothing" I said, pocketing the keychain, realizing that I could just give it to the Student Council later, "Since half of it is already done, it shouldn't take long"

"Yup, let's do this, Hikigaya-kun!"

* * *

All in all, the cleaning took about an hour or so. I felt like to would have taken a lot longer, had it not been for whoever did the first half. The job was really as simple as putting the things back in their original place – it was as if the hardest part had already been taken care of. It also seemed like the shelves and the other furnitures had already been sanitized, too.

"Thanks for today, Hikigaya-kun" Hanasaki said, shutting the door of the storage room.

"Don't think too much of it," I said, "and considering all the time it took, I don't think I deserve any sort of praise"

"No, no, I really appreciate you coming with me today," she said, "I know, I know! – Newspaper Club said they'd talk about our efforts on the cleaning on the front page once we're done; I'll have them include your name, too"

"Nah, that's fine" I declined without any reluctance.

"Huh.. why?" she said, slightly tilting her head in confusion.

"'A Student Council member cleaned a messy storage room all by herself'" I said, "Doesn't that sound like a good headline?"

"I mean, yes, it sounds cool and all," she said, "but what about it?"

"Just think about it: that sort of headline would paint the Student Council as this reliable group that helps people – I'm sure that would inspire more students to want to become like that, and join the council" I said, starting my first step away from the storage room,

"And most importantly for you: If more people joined the Student Council, then some of them would be assigned to the Support Team.. that should take a load off your shoulder"

Not hearing any footsteps following me, I turned back to see whether or not she was distracted by something. Turns out, she was staring at me in awe as I was about to walk off alone unknowingly. Somehow, I knew that she wasn't going to make any jokes that time, as the usual sarcastic, snarky hints in her expression weren't there to be seen.

"Thank you, Hikigaya-kun" Hanasaki said, giving me a warm smile that contrasted completely with the amusement she expressed during lunch break.

"Don't think too much about it" I said, turning back to my path back home.

"Hikigaya-kun is really kind!" she said in a cheerful tone, quickly making her steps toward my side.

"Where did that come from?!.. Wasn't I just a womanizer in your eyes just little while ago?"

"Doesn't matter, Hikigaya-kun is really kind!"

"Cut that out."

"Are you blushing?"

"No, I'm not."

While it may seems like I was being selfless, the reason for me declining her offer was a lot more personal. To be more specific, I was trying to avoid creating any sort of discrepancies in time. If my name were to be published anywhere in this time period, especially in regards to this school's activities, people in the future would start to suspect me if ever find my way back.

Of course, I couldn't tell Hanasaki this – well, to be more accurate: I could, but she wouldn't believe me anyway, so there wouldn't be any point.

Regardless of the motivation behind my actions, I have already decided on what I was going to do from there.


	3. Narita 1

**Chapter 3: For a short moment, her compassion spoke louder than anyone ever has. (Part 1)**

A week ago, I was asked by Omiya to help Hanasaki out with one of the requests the Student Support Team received, and then decide later whether or not I would like to join the team. When I declined, Omiya quietly threatened to blackmail me. Even knowing it was no more than an empty threat, I complied anyway, not having anything important to do at that point in time.

In the end I decided not to join.

"Where's that room?"

However, I did decide to help the team, comprising only of Hanasaki at the moment, with some of the requests that sounded too much for just one person to handle.

 _Oh, it's over there_ , I thought, coming across the club's room that was the location of one of the big requests. A certain club wanted the Support Team to setup the club room for their next event – all of the members having extra classes, none of them had enough time to do it themselves. I decided to check out the room in the morning to assess the time it would take to set the room up.

As I approached the room, I noticed that the door was slightly slid open. Going nearer, I could hear blunt noises from the inside. Knowing that none of the members had the time to be there, it was certainly strange.

"Huh?!" I said as I peeked through the open space.

The person in question was Hiratsuka. She was inside the room doing various things: moving the tables around, carry boxes, and other menial things. It was obvious that she was setting up the club room.

I immediately made my way back to my classroom, and with all the time I had left before homeroom, I approached somebody who introduced the matter to me in the first place.

"Just to confirm, she has a beef with the Student Council, correct?"

"Yup, she really does" the person said, turning around to face me. As she did that, the lower half of her brown side-ponytail was lifted up to counteract the wind at hit it when she turned. When her hair settled, Omiya, having one hand on her hips like usual, simply said,

"Why?"

"No reason in particular," I said, "Do have any idea why she hates you guys so much?"

 _And why was she helping its Support Team with one of the requests, if that's the case_? _How did she even know about the request in the first place_?

"I don't really know, but," she said, sliding the hand that was holding her hips back down her side, pausing to think, "If I have to guess, it was probably jealousy"

"Jealousy?"

"Remember how I told you that she screwed up during preparations for the Cultural Festival, and that costed them the whole event?"

"Yeah."

"After that, the Student Council decided to take over the event, and in the end, it turned into a big success," Omiya said, "I'm only speculating here, but being the chairperson of the Cultural Festival Committee, she probably wasn't happy about how the spotlight was taken away from her. What happened after that is as I have said: she started avoiding everybody."

Knowing a bit about Hiratsuka's circumstances during this time period, it wasn't hard to believe that the shame of failure was what got her to become anti-social. However, it is a bit of stretch to assume that jealousy was involved. If that bit were true, then she would have started approaching more people, and bad mouthing the Student Council in the process to make herself look good.

"Since I am in the council, she probably started hating me too judging from the fact that she even refused to hand in her future plans form," Omiya said, hooking her upper lip with her index finger, "If she doesn't hand it in soon, she's toast."

"Class Rep, is the counseling session happening soon?"

"It's this Friday"

"Huh?!"

According to Omiya herself, that is a big deal – if Hiratsuka doesn't hand in that form, then the counselor will refuse to talk to her about post-graduation plans. In the worst case, she won't be referred to any university.

 _Isn't there something that can be done_?, I thought.

I stood there, cranking my brain power to the max, hoping to come up with the remedy to this situation. Tens of "what ifs" came and went – none of the idea I thought of was any good.

However, as I was deep in thought, I forgot for a moment that I was still standing in front of Omiya. To her, it was as if I suddenly stopped talking to her and started making disapproving expressions every now and then.

"We could secretly follow her during lunch, and find her weakness from afar." she said.

To be completely honest, it was one of the ideas I came up with. If I really couldn't ask the person herself, then I don't have to. It was one of the ideas that quickly scrapped, saving it as the last resort. Not to mention that if Yuigahama was here, and she could read my mind, she would have slapped my face with her orange backpack.

 _But then again, there is probably no other way_.

"Hikigaya, just so you know, I was joking."

* * *

 **Monday – Lunch – 5 days remaining**.

"Hikigaya-kun, are you going somewhere? What about lunch?" Hanasaki said.

"I'm just gonna go get some fresh air. Just go ahead and eat without me"

As usual, Hiratsuka immediately left the classroom soon after the bell rang. Without any consideration for the damages to her textbooks, she quickly shoved them inside her bag and headed for the door.

The first place she went to is the place I am all too familiar with. Hiratsuka sat down on the front steps of the door in front of the bicycle racks. Of course, I wasn't sitting beside her on the steps.. I didn't need to to know that – there were windows behind where she was sitting.

No, I wasn't there either.

On the second floor, there were also windows at the same location as on the first. From there, I could see Hiratsuka from above. To not pry into her personal life too much, I only elected to peek down from time to time, mostly to see if she was ready to leave for another location.

During my observation, there were certain things that caught my attention. One of them is the fact that her lunch box contained what looked like ramen. The noodle, the sliced fish ball, the bamboo shoots, the hard-boiled eggs, all of the ingredients you would expect are all there save for the soup. The only thing absent was the soup, although it was understandable as it would

probably leak from the lunch box.

For the time I knew her, all I had ever seen on her face was a determined expression. The emptiness in her eyes when she chewed her food.. it doesn't exactly screams "this person is going to be setting examples for the next generation". To me personally, that scenery was rather like a reflection through a mirror – even If was surrounded by Yukinoshita and Yuigahama after school, lunch would always be my personal time.

It was probably because of my personal experience with her, but I know for a fact that expression doesn't belong on her face.

When she was done with her main course, she brought out a pack of instant ramen from her bag. After squeezing on the pack a few times, she ripped opened the smaller pack of seasoning, and sprinkled them into the ramen pack. When she was done shaking the pack, she ate the crushed up noodles as a snack.

 _So her love for ramen started pretty early on, I see_.

Having cleaned up her mess, she stood up and went back inside the building.

Being on the second floor, I headed straight for the nearest stairs, assuming that she would too for convenience. Still on the upper floor, I peeked from behind the wall at the side of the stair section. A short moment passed, and I began hearing footsteps which got louder with each one taken.

Eventually, strands of black hair emerged from the stepped slope, and that was when I ran straight into the boys toilet, which was immediately to the right of the stairs.

When the footsteps started gradually getting softer, I peeked outside. Hiratsuka was walking down the opposite direction.

 _Wait, isn't that.._

Look down at the corridor she was walking toward, there were windows on the left, as well as at the middle wall where the corridor ends. The left side of the corridor were classrooms.

 _That room at the end of the corridor.. there's no mistake: that's the room_.

But as I was pondering about something, Hiratsuka went into a classroom and was second to the last.

I quickly jogged toward the location, slowing down as I approached it to not give away my presence. 'Literature Club', the sign at the door said.

I slid open the door slightly, and through the small gap, I saw Hiratsuka walk toward an empty chair where the other side of its desk sat another girl.

The girl had a black hair tied into pigtails which rested on her shoulders, its end going no farther than her chest.

"Sorry, if I was a bit late" Hiratsuka said as she sat down.

The other girl gave a slight, gentle smile, while waving very slowly with both hands, as if to say "It's alright" or "I just got here, too"

"Then shall we continue where we left off?" Hiratsuka said, returning an equally gentle smile.

 _That's a first_.. _from this version of her, at least_ , I thought about this side of her that most people had yet to see.

The girl nodded in reply to Hiratsuka's previous statement.

 _She must be a really timid person_.

What happened next.. Or rather, a lack thereof, really got me intrigued.

After that exchange, none of them uttered a single word (not that the pigtail girl has said anything, but still) – it was dead silent.

Both of them started writing something down, and during the ten minutes that I spent squatting in front of the classroom, the only noise that came through the door was that of pencil lead being stroked down a paper.

 _But then again, it's the Literature Club, so it might not be so weird, after all_.

Judging from what I saw, nothing of note probably happen after that, but it was still a shame that I couldn't continue watching.

"Dude, over there! The Literature Club is just around the corner," a voice approached from somewhere.

 _Crap_!

"Yeah you're right!"

I sprang up and walked away from the door, pretending to be leaving. Two guys appeared from the corner and made their way toward the Literature Club.

Luckily, I got away without them paying any attention to me whatsoever. It was unfortunate, but that was all for the day's reconnaissance.

 _I guess I'll have to save the observation for tomorrow_.

Or at least, that's what I thought…

* * *

 **Tuesday – Morning before homeroom – 4 days remaining**.

"Hikigaya-kun," Hanasaki called as she and Omiya approached my seat, and with her usual playful smile, she continued,

"You were tailing Hiratsuka-san yesterday, didn't you?"

"Huh?!", "Eh?!" Omiya and I said in unison, with myself trying to come up with a response,

"Umm.. I"

"You actually did!?" Omiya said, grabbing my blazer with both hands.

"Uhh..", struggling to say anything, I simply averted my eyes.

"You idiot! I said I was only joking!", she added, pulling me back and forth somewhat violently.

"Id– idiot.. ?" holding up my hands in front for her to back off, "I was just trying to find a way to approach her."

"That doesn't make it any better!" she said, shaking me even harder, "Agh, I can't believe this guy!"

 _Stop shaking me already_!

When she finally let go of my collar, Omiya immediately placed her hand on her face, sighing as she pinched between her eyes.

"Just.. ugh," Omiya said, having calmed down somewhat, "Saki, how did you even know that, anyway?"

"I mean, he kept staring at her yesterday, and then immediately followed her when she left," Hanasaki said, "It was really obvious, y'know?"

 _And you, joker girl, stop exposing my every subconscious decision_!

"Just.. whatever.. no more stalking, got it?" Omiya said, looking at me with a worried expression, "Morality aside, that kinda thing is illegal, so don't do it again"

"Yeah"

"But then again, even if you did, it probably wouldn't matter," Omiya said, "she wouldn't have the time to be spied on anyway."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I consulted the Student Council President about this issue – he said he will have the members pester her about it for the rest of the week," Omiya said, "She'll probably spend all that time avoiding the bureaucrats running after her."

 _But.._

"Wait a sec, Class Rep," I spoke out what was on my mind, "Wouldn't that be a blatant invasion of personal space? How's that any better than what I did?"

"I never said I agreed with him, Hikigaya," Omiya said, "I'm only telling you that's what he decided to do."

If Hiratsuka herself would be too distracted to be able to perform her usual routines, then there wasn't anything that I could have done about it. Even if that wasn't the case, there still wouldn't be any proper way for me to approach her, judging from how she seemed to have come to dislike me like she did anyone who are associated with the Student Council in any way.

"In any case, no more stalking!"

"I got it, I got it.. alright?"

 _If she was going to have her lunch break taken away from her, that means there was only one place for me to check out_.

* * *

 **Tuesday – Lunch – 4 days remaining**.

Entering the enemy territory when you are unarmed is never a good idea. When Hiratsuka managed to shake the Student Council loose, then that will be the end of this mission. If this place is to her as Service Club is to Yuigahama, then she'll do anything in her power to protect it. This method involves way too high of a risk.

With all that said, however..

 _I ended up coming here, anyway_.. I thought, looking up at sign that read, 'Literature Club'

While I am the type who never made friends during an orientation, it was still worth a try. If I couldn't penetrate here fortress from the outside, then I can at least cause an espionage from happen from within.

I slid the door open normally, as anyone would, and a mysterious person was there to be seen. It was the pigtail who girl was sitting on the inner side of her table, seemly writing something on her a notebook before slowly facing up toward my direction.

"Umm.. Hello," I greeted.

The girl, after pausing for a short moment, suddenly shot up her spine, sitting up straight. With a gentle smile now on her face, she slowly waved at me, the same way she did with Hiratsuka yesterday. She stretched the same arm forward, showing her hand palm side up, toward a chair on the opposite side.

I could only assume, but it was most likely an invitation. Any human being who saw those actions would probably get to the same conclusion.

 _Is she really that shy_?

That aside, there are people who consider that rude, too – they would assume she wasn't treating them well.

 _If she kept going like this, she's going to get in trouble at some point_.

When I sat down, what she did next cleared up all the ambiguity of her actions completely.

With her right hand, she first pointed at me. Then, pointing both her hands toward each other, she moved them in circles, with one halfway ahead of the other. Holding up two fingers on one hand, she tapped the shoulder on the other side, then the one on the same side as the arm.

Finally, she stretched the same arm forward, and once again showing hand palm side up, this time toward me, to which I assumed was to hand me over the turn to speak.

That was when I realized her shyness had nothing to do with her not speaking. In fact, it was something more basic than her just playing the quiet character. Even if she was as confident as Omiya, It wouldn't have made one bit of a difference.

"I'm sorry, I don't really understand.."I said.

Even with the seemingly impossible communication barrier, rather than feeling down, she maintained that smile on her face. Although, that could also mean.. It was probably a bit insensitive of me, but I decided to ask her anyway.

"Do you at least hear what I'm saying, though?"

She nodded, and, from a stack of sketchpad, pulled out the one with the label "Introduction" taped on the cover. After flipping over to the first page, she held the sketchbook in front of her, showing me the phrases written on it.

'Welcome to the Literature Club! My name is Narita Narumi, nice to meet you!' the first page said.

The pigtail girl showed me her palm once more, as if saying "And you?"

"Hikigaya Hachiman" I said, "Nice to meet you too.. Narita"

Making a worried expression, Narita reluctantly flipped open to another page.

'Not a lot of people visit our club, so thanks you coming!' she wrote, 'Would you like to read some of our club's work?'

"Sure"`

With a sigh of relief, she handed me a notebook, presumably containing all the written works of the Literature Club.

Reading through the pages of the notebook, I could tell that the people of this club really did put a lot of work into them. I personally am not into poetry, but the words and structure they used were simple enough for me to enjoy to an extent. Oddly enough, some of the pages appeared to have been ripped off.

It wasn't so hard to tell that this club probably only had two members, since that's the number of writing styles that I came across. One of them I am very familiar with, being the similar to that of my favorite author.

"A lot of these reminds me of Watari Koeru's works" I muttered.

As I said that, a brief slapping noise came from the opposite site of the table. When I looked up, Narita was bending forward over the table, with her hands lying flat on the wood surface. Her was eyes sparkling with excitement, and her mouth was wide open in awe. She reached both her hands out to grab mine, which was still holding her notebook, and started shaking with enthusiasm.

When Narita sat back down, she immediately brought out a book from her bag, and handed it over to me.

"Oh, this one," I said, receiving the book from her, "I really like this one. Not really a popular choice among his fans, though – such a waste."

Without hesitation, she nodded, show an expression that was full of agreement.

I don't remember how long the conversation lasted. (Although, it would be strange to call that "a conversation")

When I was done giving my opinion on that one book, she brought out another one, seemingly wanting to know what I think of it. The only input from her side was either that of agreement via a nod, or an implication of the opposite via a troubled expression.

Arguably (and ironically), that was the most I have ever spoken in a single setting.

The same thing repeated until the 5th period bell went off, much to the dismay of Narita, who made it very clear through her expression that she hadn't had enough of the exchange. I'm only guessing, but even if she ran out of books from that author, then that "conversation" would still have gone on somehow.

However, while my interaction with Narita went on relatively smoothly, I have completely forgotten about my original intent, and that was to know more about Hiratsuka's situation.

In hindsight, the encounter would have gone the opposite direction had I actually brought it up. Even if she had the means to effectively convey the information to me, that didn't mean that she would be willing to do so.

 _I'll try to make that happen tomorrow.. somehow_.

* * *

 **Wednesday – 3 days remaining**.

"Oh, that? Yeah, you can have it, Hikigaya-kun."

"Thanks, you saved me a lot of trouble."

"We still have yet to return you the favor for helping us clean up our storage room. Besides, that thing is kinda old anyway. There is a box of old equipment over there – feel free to take the whole thing with you."

 _Today, I'll definitely bring it up_.

It was arrogant to think that everything will go as planned, but as Friday closes in, there was not much else I could have done. The main objective wasn't to keep a kindred spirit company – that could always be done after this mess is over. That was nothing more than a reconnaissance mission.

"Here, have this, Narita," I said, handing her a tape recorder I received from the Newspaper Club this morning.

Receiving the device, she first stared at it for a short moment, then looked up at me, expressing confusion with her slightly tilted head.

Sugarcoating isn't my thing, especially not when it comes to my own actions.

"..."

 _But_..

"You said not many people come here, didn't you?" I said.

She nodded.

"Then, record someone reading the poem, and play it whenever somebody visits – this should make your club easier to approach, especially when you're here alone," I said, and after thinking for a bit, added, "You probably have more members, right? If you didn't, this club would have been disbanded long ago."

 _Now, for the segue_!

"Speaking of the other members– "

"Excuse us!" someone yelled from outside the clubroom. Immediately after, the door was slid open so hard, the reverberations probably went all the way to the stairs at the opposite end of the hallway. What emerged from the hallway were two male students whose body build were of someone who often play sports. Just by standing at the door, their intimidating aura radiated throughout the room.

"Oh, it's just Narita today?" one guy said.

"Well, that'll make things easier." the other guy said.

 _I got a bad feeling just by looking at these guys_.. _what are they up to_?

"Let's get down to business, Narita," one of the guys who were slowly approaching her said, "I hope you're ready to give the correct answer this time."

"Are you disbanding or not? The Art Club really needs a room of its own, you know?" the other guy said, having made his way to the table, standing beside me.

"So..?"

Narita, frozen as if the intimidating aura had already shut down her brain, just stared at the guys whose shadow was practically towering her. After a short moment, with her lips visibly shaking, she forced a slight smile, probably to imply, "I'm sorry, but I have to refuse"

"Who do you think you're smiling at?!" one guy suddenly raised his voice, slapping the table, immediately striking fear within her.

"Your useless club is such an eyesore. What's the point of keeping it going?!"

"Right? You can't even speak, so who is going to be listening to these stupid stories?"

 _Now, that's crossing the line_.

"Someone like you wouldn't amount to anything!"

"Hey," I said, getting their attention. With eyes full of intent to murder, both of them turned toward me, who was on the same as of the table as they were.

 _She was probably like this for as long as she could remember_.

"Making fun of somebody else's shortcomings is a bit much, don't you think?"

 _People like you would never be able to comprehend that_.

"Who the heck asked for your opinion?" the guy closest to me said, reaching for my shoulder.

With sweat rolling down my face, I sat still, looking back at his threatening eyes. At that moment, my lower jaw had already gave in, shaking harder than when I was out in the cold, half naked. My breathing pattern was no better, having the rhythm of somebody suffering from asthma.

"Let me give you a life advice," the guy said.

Without any warning, the guy shoved me hard on the shoulder, holding a pose that suggested that he only used half his strength. That said, it was enough to send me falling off my chair, with the back of my head hitting the floor at the same time as the chair. If the pain wasn't bad enough, the ear-penetrating sound of the metal rails hitting the floor made it a lot worse.

"If you don't wanna get hurt, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong," the guy said, "You better stay back from now on!"

The later part of their exchange happened in darkness as I lay on the ground, trying to suppress the pulsating pain at the back of my head with my hands.

"So, what's your answer?" the guy said, presumably shifting his attention back to Narita.

I, too, am curious about what happened next, but whatever her reply was, they weren't happy about it.

"Why are you so persistent?!"

"Yeah, disband this stupid club!"

"I guess you haven't learned your lesson from the other day."

 _What the heck are they gonna do_!?

"Give me that!"

Even without seeing what was going on, I got an answer immediately as soon as I heard the sound of paper being ripped – it was when I also realized why it seemed like some of the pages of her notebook were missing.

 _The club's work_..

The rippling at the back of my head were telling me to stay down, but I had already risen to my feet at that point. Barely able to let the pain be, I stretched my left arm forward, reaching for whatever was about to wash the Literature Club's efforts down the drain.

Catching the hand that was pulling on the page of the notebook, I yanked the guy's wrist past my face, and up into the air. Looking straight into in eyes over the arms that were obscuring the lower half of our faces, I said,

"Let go of the notebook."

"What the– what are you doing?!"

"I said let go of the notebook."

"You really got the nerve!" the guy said, slowly pulling his other hand backward, holding it into a fist. I only saw the fist coming toward me for a brief moment before seeing a bunch of stars. Even though the impact zone was nowhere near my legs, they still gave out immediately, leaving me falling butt-first to the ground.

"I told you to stay back, didn't I!?"

"Seems like he didn't get it, I'll help you teach him a lesson!" the other guy said, walking toward me.

The hail of kicks started being thrown at me, most of which went to either my shoulder, or my arm that I held in front of my face.

"Take this, idiot!" one guy said before something a lot softer than their feet hit my face. When it slid down behind my lap, it was as if the almighty-whatever said, 'Here's your chance, do something, Hachiman!'

 _The notebook!_

"Narita!" I said, and with the other hand, I threw toward her the binded good containing the accumulation of her club's effort, "Take it, and go!"

I knew I let my guard down, when right after I said that, I took a blow that sent my face turning to the side, almost twisting my neck.

"Go!" I said, to which the rapid footsteps presumably coming from her started, and got softer in a matter of seconds until it vanished into the hallway.

Now that she was out of the fray, there was nothing else to be concerned about. I stayed down, anticipating them to strike me even more violently, hoping in vain that they would eventually be satisfied and simply leave me alone.

"Dude, Narita's gotten away!"

"Crap, she'll probably go get the teachers…"

"Let's leave, dude.. Or we'll be toast!"

"You're right.. "

With that conversation done, those two finally stopped stamping shoe prints on me.

"Agh, dammit.. she did say not to involve others."

"Not my fault! That guy suddenly grabbed me – it was for self-defense!"

Those two ran out quickly as if their life depended on it, leaving me on the ground, trying to process what just happened.

With the pain still coming back to all the various places that got hit, I stood up slowly.

"Ouch!" I said, covering the cheek that got hit with the sneaker. Just based on how it felt, I could already guess the shade of purple my cheek has turned to.

As I walked out of the room, a liquid of some kind that was dripping from my lower lip made its way into my mouth. Even without looking into the mirror, I knew as soon as the metallic taste set in, that I needed to go to toilet to wash it off before lunch break ends. I wiped the red stuff off my chin with my black blazer's sleeve, and swallowed the portion that flowed into my mouth.

I began walking toward the toilet, covering my bruised cheek in case I ran into someone.

"What are you doing here?"

Before I could even walk away from the room, somebody who walked from the opposite side of the hallway said. There is no mistaking it – that voice, even with its owner current demeanor, was still completely recognizable to me, who was all too familiar with it.

 _It's Hiratsuka_ , I thought, still facing the opposite direction.

"Nothing." I replied.

"Nobody ever visits our club.. not without some sort of motive" she said, having a serious tone mixed in with her usual lack of emotion, "So tell me, what are you doing here?"

"I.."

Suddenly, the rapid footstep from earlier grew louder from Hiratsuka's side, only to abruptly stop with a squeak when it reached the origin of the voice. The panting that followed soon after notified me of another presence, one that hurried back to this place for some reason or another.

"Narita-san?" the Hiratsuka said, "where have you been?"

 _Seem like she didn't go and get a teacher like the guys feared_.

"Huh? Narita-san, why are you crying?"

 _She's crying_? I thought, though, the fact became obvious when the sobbing became audible. Even if your vocal chord goes bust, air still flows through there, after all.

"Don't tell me.. " the future teacher said. After a brief pause, she followed up in a manner that suggested she gathered all of the suffering she had built up over her time at Sobu High, and released it on me in one small sentence,

"You.. what did you do to her?!"

 _What the_..?!

"Bullying a girl, and it's someone like Narita-san, no less."

 _Wait a second, Hiratsuka_ –

"You're doing the Student Council's dirty work again, aren't you?"

The strings of accusation threw me off into space, leaving my mind blank on what actions I should take next. But before she could say anything else, she was abruptly stopped by something.

"Eh.!? Narita-san, what are you doing?!"

 _So Narita's defending me_?

"Just stay back – the reason why those guys keep coming back is because you're always too kind on them."

If Hiratsuka didn't believe the person herself, then there was no way I could have gotten away with a simple "I was the one who got beaten up".

"If you don't want me to go get a teacher, I suggest you leave right now."

There wasn't much else I could have done. Even If I showed her the bruise on my face, she would have thought Narita was the one who did it in self-defense.

"Never come back here again."

 _But then again, not that it matters_.

My job here is not to be liked, or to become popular. Yuigahama tasked me with "saving" Hiratsuka, the girl who just accused me of trying to destroy something important to her. If it meant making sure that her life don't take a turn for the worse, the least I could do is to not be the cause of that.

Not to mention..

"It's alright, Narita-san.. Everything is going to be alright"

I couldn't have possibly come up with any phrase that would put Narita at ease. Even if I could, my words wouldn't have no meaning to her anyway, being someone she only met a day ago. When you think of it that way, Hiratsuka's arrival was the most opportune.

 _It's best to just let them be for now_.


	4. Narita 2

**Chapter 4: For a short moment, her compassion spoke louder than anyone ever has. (part 2)**

 _The view from the window sure is nice_.

Looking at the other students going home from above somehow gave me a peace of mind – it made me forget about the immense exhaustion that presented itself earlier today. A nice change of pace, indeed.

" _Take this, idiot!"_

" _You.. what did you do to her?!"_

During lunch time, I approached Narita again, hoping that she would somehow tell me about Hiratsuka. Despite the lack of efficient means to do so, I was sure she would have been more than happy to share her experience through her writing.

However, my exchange with her came to an abrupt stop when two grunts claiming to be from the Art Club entered the classroom. They started intimidating Narita, even going as far as to destroying her club's manuscripts. I was caught in the cross-fire, sustaining minor injuries on my face.

When the two thugs eventually left, I decided to head for the toilet to clean off any marks they left on me.

" _Never come back here again."_

As you may have remembered, Hiratsuka showed up and accused me of contributing to Narita's torment. Without any other choice, I left quietly, leaving that false impression of me burned into her memory.

It's been a long time since I felt this way. My conscious self was satisfied with the outcome, knowing that leaving Hiratsuka to cheer Narita up was the best option as I was in no position to do such thing. However, the gut feeling of objection that was there since the beginning lingered on, haunting my sugar-coated conclusion wherever it went.

It was the same gut feeling I got when I confronted Sagami Minami on the rooftop. Even though I knew my deplorable act would "create a world where nobody gets hurt", the visceral just would not back down. Ironically, it was my very self that wouldn't leave me alone.

"It kinda hurts" I murmured, placing my hand over the bandage on my face. Mind you, I wasn't necessarily talking about my injuries.

While I was indulging myself with the past, something crept in on the hand I had over the bandage. It was someone else's hand, one that gently caressed the back of mine. That soft touch that equal to that of a whisper, even without me looking up to see those black pigtails, was a dead give away of its origin.

...

"Narita?" said the boy who woke up from his thoughtful dream.

 _Your face.. It hurts, doesn't it?_

If only I had pen and paper with me, I could have written down something that resembled a word of appreciation. However, words alone wouldn't be adequate to express whatever was building up in my chest that would surely have burst had I the proper fuse.

"What.. are you doing here?" he said.

This man willingly put himself out there to preserve something most people would see as trivial, insignificant, and at worst, a huge waste of paper. It was an honor to have someone take your work seriously for once.

 _Yet, Shizuka-chan wouldn't listen to a single thing he had to say_.

It was such a shame that I couldn't do anything..

 _As I thought: you didn't even put the bandage on properly_.. _You didn't have enough time to do that, didn't you?_

…

Narita's real intentions remained unknown to me, but I had this odd feeling that she was trying to get across her appreciation for what transpired earlier that day. While her next action flustered me to an extent, it all became clear when I just let her do her thing.

Holding onto that hand of mine, she placed it on the table, away from the hastily done first-aid. She slowly removed the bandage from my cheek, and folded it up. Into one pocket, she put the old bandage in, and from the other, pulled out a new one along with a bottle of antiseptic spray.

"Ouch!" my voice accompanied the sudden, sharp pain that the antiseptic brought with it. However, the less than tolerable experience was short lived, and it didn't take long for me to realize what was mitigating that unpleasant sensation. Since Narita brought out her tools, she had been holding my hand like I was her sick mother.

It was all over in a matter of minutes, with the first-aid done better than what I could have ever achieved in front of the mirror myself.

Narita went out of her way to do it as discreet as she possibly could, and she would always have something to distract me if it was painful. Looking back, she was also the only one who was there for Hiratsuka while the others, according to Class Rep Omiya, shunned her away.

That really got me thinking.

If one needs to end their suffering, look no further than Narita Narumi, and she'll nurse you back from whatever you got yourself into, physically or emotionally.

I guess you could say..

She is the Voice of Compassion.

* * *

Thursday, Lunch – the day before the meeting sessions.

I decided that it would be best if I talked to Kasuga-sensei about the situation. After all, he is her homeroom teacher – there is bound to be something that he could do that a student wouldn't.

 _However_..

"Oh, Hikigaya?"

It seems like somebody else had the same idea.

"What are you doing here, Hikigaya-kun?"

Standing in front of the seated black-haired homeroom teacher were two girls who needed no introduction.

One of them stood tall even in the presence of an authoritative figure, keeping one hand on her waist as usual, with her somewhat childish side-ponytail not hindering her proud image one bit. That was of course, Omiya Miyo, Class 3F's representative, and therefore, by extension, a Student Council member.

The other girl stood behind the beacon of confidence, radiating nothing but the aura of joy, not at all overshadowed in the face of the former, even with her simple, black short bob. The description fits none other than Hanasaki Saki, the joker girl of Class 3F, also a Student Council member. With this girl around, I am afraid I wouldn't be off to a smooth start.

"You stalked us here, didn't you?" Hanasaki said in her usual playful tone, humming in such a tone and rhythm that she might as well be laughing.

 _I freaking knew it_.

"Sorry for interrupting" I said, brushing off her act, knowing that any vocal response would lead to even more silly tangents.

"Actually, great timing, Hikigaya," Omiya said, "We're actually in the middle of something that might interest you as well."

"And by that, you mean?"

"You'll know soon enough," she said, and turned back to the homeroom teacher,

"As I was saying, she hasn't turned in the form yet."

 _Oh, so it's about Hiratsuka_.

"I see, this is certainly bad." Kasuga-sensei said while making a worried expression unbefitting of his persona. He would usually share the traits of Hanasaki, playing pranks on people (like me) and just joking around in general. It made me wonder, why are they so similar, yet one have a better perception of place and time than the other?

"I'll ask the President to have all the Council members after her tomorrow," Omiya said, "Even if she still doesn't agree with the meeting, the annoyance should be enough to let her give in."

"But, would she show up to the meeting, though?" Hanasaki said.

"I don't know.. but at least sending in the form is better than nothing," Omiya said, "then again, it'd be better if she showed up."

"Isn't there anything you can do, Ha– ... Kasuga-sensei. " Hanasaki said.

"Hmm.." the teacher ponders for a moment, before announcing his intention "I'll move her name to the bottom of the list – that should give you more time to convince her."

"Thanks Sensei, we'll need all the get we can get." Omiya said.

 _But_..

Hanasaki got her answer, which is all well and good. That said, I found Kasuga-sensei's reply to be a bit lackluster, especially given his position in this matter. I wished it didn't have to come to this, but the issue could have been cleared up if he were to take a bit of advantage of that particular quality of his.

"Kasuga-sensei, would it be alright if I gave my opinion?"

"Of course, Hikigaya-kun." he said without hesitating.

' _Hikki, you have done quite a bit yourself, haven't you? Not anything that we could see, anyway.'_

"Wouldn't it be better if you make her send it in?"

' _But I'm sure it'd make for an ugly sight. It's hard to just change your methods, after all.'_

"..even if she refused, you could use your position as a teacher to intimidate her."

' _That guilt won't go away, you know?'_

When I was done, all three of them stared at me with their jaw on the ground. Omiya seemed a bit uncomfortable, and with a slight frown, looked to the side as soon as she got the chance. For her, the atmosphere probably turned heavy as soon as I gave my reasoning. I get her feeling – after all, I felt the same way, probably even more so, when I mentioned his position.

If saying all those things was a walk through the desert, then I'd be crawling, getting dehydrated as the grim reaper hovers above the sun.

However.

"Hahaha!"

It seemed like Kasuga-sensei and Hanasaki didn't share the sentiment. Both of them looked at each other for a short moment before erupting into uncontrollable laughter, with Hanasaki almost crying tears of amusement. It was as they weren't bothered by it at all. Even Omiya was surprised by their reaction.

 _These people_..

But on the bright side, guilt won't be the worst thing that happened to me today – that would be embarrassment, apparently.

"You didn't mean that, didn't you," Kasuga-sensei said, having barely recovered.

"Huh?"

"You were practically grinding your teeth saying all that," he said, looking back at Hanasaki once more, "I know people who actually advocate those things – they wouldn't struggle preaching it like you just did."

"Yup, Kasuga-sensei is not that kind of person, right?" Hanasaki said with a childish grin, "that's why he's really popular among students."

"If using my age or position to intimidate young people is the right thing to do, then I'd rather be wrong for the rest of my life. My co-workers who are out for lunch right now would probably disagree, but everybody's got their own beliefs, I suppose," the teacher said,

"You just wanted to be proven wrong, didn't you? For her sake."

"As I thought," Hanasaki said, turning me with her tender smile,

"Hikigaya-kun is really kind."

This girl is really the master of smiles, but too bad most of the time it's the playful kind, the kind that you would see on any prankster's face. Genuine or not, that gentle expression was such a nice change of pace.

"That aside, Hikigaya-kun, I'm sure there is a reason you came here today," Kasuga-sensei said, brining the mood back to equilibrium, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes, I actually have some questions regarding Hiratsuka-san, and her relationship with the Literature Club as well." I said, "As her homeroom teacher, I thought you would know something."

"I take it you have already talked to Narita-san?"

"We didn't exactly 'talk', but yes, I have interacted with her to a degree."

"That's good – that'll give you a better understanding of the situation," Kasuga-sensei said,

"You see.."

Whenever somebody's got a trouble, Hiratsuka would always volunteer to help – and that was pretty much how she got to know Narita, as well.

If someone's holding an event, you can bet that she would be helping out, and that was the reason why she was quite popular. Naturally, when it came the time for Cultural Festival, she also offer the people in charge a hand without hesitation. Seeing all her good deeds, the people decided to make her the chair of the festival committee.

Initially, things went really well: everything was going according to schedule. In fact, things went on even faster than expected with Hiratsuka helping out anybody she could. There was no doubt in anybody's mind that last year Cultural Festival was going to be a success.

However..

"Something went wrong, as far as I have heard."

"Yes, something went horribly wrong."

One day, the entirely of the committee's budget went missing, and that was when things started spiraling downward. While nobody suspected her of stealing the money, people started to doubt her ability to lead the event. Eventually, no one was listening to her anymore, all the while the progress on the event became completely stagnant.

"The Student Council then saved the event."

"That's right – you're quite informed, Hikigaya-kun."

Even after her name got somewhat stained with failure, Hiratsuka still pushed on, offering to help anybody who seem to be in pinch. Whether or not it was to redeem herself, the damage had been done, and people lost trust in her enough that they would always decline, sometimes even rudely. People started drifting away from Hiratsuka one by one, and in the end, Narita was the only friend she had.

"She blamed the the Student Council for destroying her social life," Kasuga-sensei said, "even now, she still holds a grudge against them."

"But Sensei, something doesn't add up," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"If she doesn't want to send the form through the Student Council, then she could have just sent it to you directly."

"That.." he said, looking away for a short moment, before looking back at me with a forced smile, "The thing is, she isn't fond of me either, since It's also my fault that she became that way– "

"Stop blaming yourself, Haru-niichan– " Hanasaki replied promptly, but with calmness.

"It's 'Kasuga-sensei' at school, Hanasaki-san," he said, equally calmly, "It's hard to accept, but I did have a hand in making her the way she is."

That sudden revelation was truly intriguing, however, not being the main issue at hand, I let it slide. The situation was more complicated than I thought: this time involving even a teacher. It really did made me wonder if I could really tackle a problem of this caliber.

"It's a shame really – she was always helping everybody," Omiya said, "She even thought of joining the Student Support Team at some point."

Inconceivable considering the current circumstances surrounding her, but I guess it would be the natural choice if you're always helping people. _It is understandable: if people stopped trusting me (if they did to begin with), I'd become unmotivated too_.

...

 _Wait a sec_ …

"Class Rep, mind repeating what you just said?"

"Hmm? I said it's a shame since she was always helping people."

"And the next bit?"

"She even thought of joining the Support Team."

 _That's it_! I thought as I remembered a certain object I have picked up a week ago when I was helping Hanasaki. Although Kasuga-sensei's story is slightly different from what Omiya told me the other day, the conclusion is still the same.

There is a reason why she became almost completely anti-social: it's because she has nothing but that quality of hers. It was unreasonable that the entire student body lost trust in her, but that is an issue that can be addressed later on – for now, I have to focus on getting her to show up to her counseling session.

 _So that's what she's after_..

While my methods at the time were a bit underhanded, it did lead me to the eureka moment I desperately needed.

All I had to do now is find a way to convey the message to her.

* * *

Friday – the counseling session begins.

"Dang it, where's she?"

"I don't know, we've already looked all over."

"We'll not make it at this rate.. On the double!"

The Student Council members was order by its president to go after Hiratsuka to convince her to hand in the form. Even though she was there during homeroom, Hiratsuka was nowhere to be seen after that. Not to mention that since there were no classes today, it broadens the possibility of where she could be. None of them seemed to have any idea of her whereabouts,

"Found you."

"You– how..?"

And that's exactly why I knew she would be here.

"It was obvious: there's no reason for the Student Council to search their own room," I said, "Other than to trick them, there's no other reason for you to hide here, either – after all, it's the enemy base."

There was no reply other than the grinding of her teeth, which was accompanied by the murderous gaze coming my way.

"Hiratsuka, let's join the counseling session," I said, "I'll do something about the council members."

"After all you have done, do you really think I'd trust you?!" she said, "How could you say that with such a straight face?"

Should she be able to, what would she..

 _What would Narita Narumi, the Voice of Compassion, say in this situation_?

"I know you weren't the one who messed up."

"Huh?"

"Cultural Festival.. I know it's not your fault."

When her mouth slowly gaped open, I felt like I was on the right track. It was the sort of relief that came with a surprise. Narita must have been the only person to have expressed that sentiment to her, that she wasn't in the wrong.

"You don't know that!" she said, suddenly shifting back to being defensive, "You weren't there; how could you possibly know?"

"I know that you're always thorough," I said, "Like that time when you were cleaning the Newspaper Club's room all by yourself. Everything was already in place, ready to be put back."

Kasuga-sensei said that all the money went missing, he never said she was the one who lost it.

"How?.. Don't tell me," she said, backing off with a slightly disgusted expression, "You were watching."

"I didn't – there was no reason to," I said, "The fact that you're holding that box tells me everything I needed to know."

I couldn't tell her that I picked up her ramen veggie keychain, and I definitely couldn't tell her that I had to tail her during lunch to figure out it was hers. She was flustered enough as it is.

The box that she was holding was the same one Hanasaki introduced to me last week. Yes, it's the one that students would drop their requests into.

 _I'm almost there.. let me have this voice for a bit longer_..

"You were always helping people out, because that's what makes you happy," I said, "but then, people suddenly distance themselves from you."

 _And that includes Narita who, alone, can't possibly keep the Literature Club going without a bridge between the silent and the rest of the world_.

"That's why you put your request of 'Please rely on me' in that box: in hopes that someday, somebody would figure out the meaning behind it."

 _Unfortunately, it's a transfer student who figured it out, instead of the ones who were there, unintentionally tormenting you_.

"I'm sure Narita-san would agree."

And that should have done it: finishing the conversation off, having built up the whole thing to the phrase that should resonate with her the most. While this may not have convince her to show up for the counseling session, it should have calmed her down.

"How dare you.."

"Hmm?"

"How dare you utter her name after everything you have done to her?!'

 _Big mistake_..

It was the exact tone she used a couple of days ago: fierce and vengeful. I may have been trying to sound sympathetic, I forgot to think about the logic behind it all. She still didn't know that it was all a misunderstanding, that I wasn't part of whatever was ruining her high school experience. Standing in front of her at that moment in time.. was a hypocrite.

"This is for her manuscript you destroyed." she said as she slowly paced toward me as she raised her arm in the air, ready to strike the person she perceived as evil. Just by those words of her, the wound on my cheek started aching up.

 _If that's enough to satisfy you, then so be it_ , I thought, closing my eyes.

All I wish for was that she wouldn't hit me on the same side of the face where I got kicked – that would hurt more than I'd like. I expected that, in a second, I'll hear a loud slap to my face. Even if she chose to hit me a multiple times, the pain would only last for a bit, before making its way to my heart.

However, none of that happened.

By that time, I should have been hurt, but nothing seemed to have hit my face. Was my cheek completely numb because of the beating from the other day. Or.. did she hit me so hard that I was incapacitated instantly? Regardless of the reason, I was, for once, unharmed.

As I opened my eyes, everything became clear, if not a bit surprising.

Standing right in front of me, a girl faced Hiratsuka, spreading her arms wide to the side.

"..Narita-san?"

You could say it was an act of protection, but I guess it's equally valid to say that she was welcoming Hiratsuka into her comforting arms; Narita Narumi is that sort of person to do that.

"Why?" Hiratsuka said with the utmost disbelief, "He has done nothing but cause trouble!"

After taking one deep breath, she turned toward me with one arm suddenly reaching for my injured cheek.

"Narita, what are you doing?" I said as I grabbed her hand, flustered.

While I was still unsure of her intentions, she made herself one thing crystal clear: she was determined to do whatever she going to do, having the words 'trust me' written all over her eyes. Knowing it couldn't get any worse, I gave her the benefit of the doubt, letting her hand run free.

Narita slid her thumb nail under one corner of the bandage on my cheek before pinchinging it hard with the help of her index finger. "Ouch!" – in one sudden swoop, she peeled the bandage clean off my face, exposing the mark that the grunts from Art Club left on me.

With her hands, one of them still holding the bandage, Narita started expressing Hiratsuka all sorts of thoughts and emotions with such fluidity that even the military would be jealous. Although I did not understand a single thing her hands conveyed, the bluntness in her signs tells me that one of the thing she must have said to Hiratsuka was 'Why won't you understand?!'

Only the almighty-whatever knows what Narita was thinking, but Hiratsuka's replies did make their interaction a bit more approachable.

"I didn't know he was into literature.." Hiratsuka said, to which I assumed it was a reply to the phrase, 'He spent the entire lunch break look through my manuscripts'.

It's the same pattern throughout:

"He really gave you that?" to 'He gave me a voice recorder so that we could use your voice recording to advertise our club', and so on.

But one thing that took Hiratsuka aback was something that Narita said at the very end, right before silence suddenly engulfed the room.

"So that's why his face is.."

Whatever Narita said, it left Hiratsuka momentarily devastated to the point of not being able to breathe. Her lips began visibly trembled, knowing that she is bringing onto others, the same grievances that led her to her current self. It would not be surprising had she fell down to her knees, crying.

However, this is Hiratsuka Shizuka that we're talking about here. Even if she couldn't forgive herself, she'd still move on, treating her each and every past mistakes as a lesson – it's her guide to wisdom.

"Hikigaya Hachiman-kun,"

The future teacher called out to me, and after a brief pause, announced firmly:

"I accept your request."


	5. Keihin-Tohoku 1

**Chapter 5: Atop the mountain she created, the girl reached for the hand below. (Part 1)**

"These weren't here before.." I murmured as I noticed the wooden floor below my feet. The square wooden platform resembled the wooden floor in the classrooms, and it stretched equally in all directions, but only far enough for me to take a couple of steps. Beyond its edge were, just like last time, nothingness.

Standing at one corner, I reached out, to what I don't really know, but I did so anyway. Perhaps it was to reassure my next statement.

"There really is nothing here" I said, looking at the color black that went as far as the eye can see.

"But at least we have something to stand on this time, hahaha,"

Out of nowhere, somebody stated. It was so sudden, the surprise almost sent me jumping off the platform, but somehow, I was able to gain back my balance. I turned around, and at the opposite edge of the wooden platform, stood a person who needs no introduction: a girl with peach-colored hair, whose hands were clutching on to the shoulder traps of her orange backpack.

 _Of course she would be here_ , I thought.

"It seems like we meet again, Hikki" the person said, her voice echoed into the space around us.

"Yuigahama" I uttered her name.

"Yahallo, Hikki" the girl said, as her lips curved out into a subtle, but noticeable, smile.

Apart from me being startled, I was surprisingly calm for a person who just met somebody for the first time in a while. Rather, I felt nothing other than the desire to know more about what was tasked to me, confident that I have made progress even if most of the details were still hidden in the shadows.

"Did you figure out what you have to do?" Yuigahama cut to the chase, as if able to read my mind.

"Hiratsuka-sensei was held responsible for the what happened during Cultural Festival, and that made her seclude herself from the rest of the school. You want other people to trust her again," I said, "Is that what you want me to do?"

Yuigahama averted her eyes as the feeling of lost got mixed in with her smile,

"Maybe?" she said before looking back at me, "I am not sure myself."

Her reply left me hanging there, at a loss for words, and perhaps, even frustrated. However, I somehow couldn't get myself to blame her for everything that had happened to me. She did say it herself during our first meeting last time that she didn't intend for me to travel far from home – all she did was hope..

That's a completely natural thing to do.

"Seek the students with exemplary character, Hikki," Yuigahama said, "They might know how to help Hiratsuka-sensei."

"Students with 'exemplary character'?"

"They're the ones recognized for excelling at certain things: it might be in academics, or in improving human welfare – whatever their peers could think of, really."

"And who are they exactly, Yuigahama?"

"Well, take Narumi-chan, for example," she said, "Even though people usually avoid her, they always come back to her whenever their heart starts aching. They recognized that she would get them up and walking forward again – it's her Voice of Compassion.

"But clearly that alone is not enough," I said, "When she was in school, Hiratsuka-sensei always hung out with Narita, but that didn't seem to change anything."

"Then look for other students.. with their combined strengths, I'm sure they can come up with something." Yuigahama said, determined that it was indeed the way to go, "Another person would be– "

As she was about to continue, a sound akin to that of glass breaking came from the floor below us. It wasn't unbearably loud, but it was enough to drown out whatever Yuigahama was trying to say. The girl eventually noticed that was the case, as shown by her stopping half way through.

Instead of a confused look, Yuigahama merely smiled, like she was expecting this to happen.

A crack appeared on the floor, something nobody would be expecting from wood. That crack gradually spread throughout the wooden floor, with its hollow web becoming more detailed by the second.

And then, the platform was no more. The flat structure completely shattered as the cracks reached all four corners, each fragment quickly turned to sand. Gravity seemed into be in full effect, as Yuigahama and I got pulled straight downward by the force.

Even as we fell into the abyss, Yuigahama would not stop smiling at me. At one point, she started speaking again, but anything out of her mouth faded out before it reached my ears. After a short moment, she held up her hand in front of her chest, and waved at me.

And that's where it ended.

"Hikigaya-kun, homeroom is about to start," somebody said, shaking my shoulder."You should wake up now."

When I opened my eyes, I was met with an unfamiliar figure.. Or at least, it was a sight unfamiliar in front of my desk: gray eyes, and long black hair.

"Hiratsuka-sensei?" I blurted out.

"What do you mean, "Sensei"?" the person said, making a confused look. That was when I realized how stupid I was.

"No.. nothing.." I said, trying to brush it off, "Thanks for waking me up, Hiratsuka."

"It's really nothing," Hiratsuka said in a tone that was as cold as usual, "I'm only here to deliver a message, that's all."

"A message?"

"Yes," she said, "Narita-san told me she would be happy if you came over to visit Literature Club sometime."

"I see. Thanks."

After I voiced my appreciation, Hiratsuka nodded in response, and quickly made her way back to her seat. While her delivery then could have used some life, it was a far cry from the way she spoke to me last week.

 _Students with exemplary character, huh_?

However, that was just the first step toward the finish line.. There were issues that she did not touch on.. Or rather, did not want to discuss with me. We still did not know much about those thugs, if at all. They claim to be from Art Club, but I doubt those guys know anything.

 _Although, It doesn't hurt to be thorough_ , I thought as I touched the bandage on my cheek. While the pain is mostly gone, the scabs still remained, which would be a bit distracting to see had I left it uncovered.

If there's anybody who knows anything about the clubs, that would be someone who is in the Student Council – they would have some kind of a list, I'm sure. But as I looked around, the sight suddenly explains why I fell asleep in the first place.

 _She's not here today_?

Hanasaki Saki, the sole member of the Student Support Team, and the joker girl of class 3-F, was nowhere to be seen. Even on a Monday morning like this, she would be going around the classroom, talking to everybody with her usual bright expression.

That doesn't mean I was out of options, though. As I looked around once more, another candidate came into view. Unlike those around her, she wasn't preoccupied with talking to anyone about what she did during the weekend, or updating them on what she had heard recently; she was sitting on her desk with her chin on her hand, looking toward the window quietly.

"Hey, Class Rep."

"Hmm? What is it, Hikigaya?"

The always determined expression, and her brown side-ponytail – that person who replied was none other than Omiya Miyo, representative of class 3-F.

"I'd like to visit the Art Club today," I said, "Do you know where they are?"

"Ah, the Art Club?" Omiya said, "They–"

But before she could tell me anything, Omiya suddenly halts her tongue half way through. She then turned toward me with her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Don't tell me.." she said.

 _Big mistake_.

"No, I'm not stalking anybody," I said, quickly cutting the thought.

"What are you up to this time, Hikigaya?" she said, her eyes filled with suspicion.

"Nothing," I said, after a quick sigh, "I just want to check them out, that's all."

"You don't look like the artistic type," she said, at which point a tiny drop of sweat started rolling down my cheek. Even if it was a somewhat shallow assessment, she had a point. I can't imagine myself in front of the canvas, either.

 _What am I supposed to follow up with_?!

Every second that had passed felt like eternity as she kept staring at me apprehensively, as if every word that came out of my mouth smells fishy. If I don't come up with something quick, I'm toast.. Omiya wouldn't let me hear the end of it.

"Fine" she said.

"What?"

"I said "fine", you can visit the Art Club." she said, dropping her defensive act.

"Oh, really? Thanks."

 _Phew_.

"But I'll be going with you,"

"What?!"

"I said "I'll be going with you", Hikigaya." Omiya said, leaning back on her chair.

"But–"

"Either I take you to the Art Club, or you're not going at all," she said, crossing her arms, "Which one is it going to be?"

 _Scary_! _Omiya Miyo is scary_!

"Alright." I said reluctantly.

"Good! I know you're quick to understand," Omiya said, smiling, but definitely not out of kindness, "They'll have a meeting tomorrow lunch.. just wait here and I'll take you there."

Come to think of it, I am sure Hanasaki herself would have been loud enough to alert Omiya, and possibly the rest of the class. While I did not want to involve Omiya on Hiratsuka's issues, there was nothing else I could have done. There was no one else from the Student Council that I know.

* * *

"Oh yeah, Saki has been absent since yesterday, hasn't she?" Omiya said, as both of us made our way down the hall. As "promised", the Class Representative of 3-F guides me toward the Art Club.

"Indeed, she has," I said, "What happened to her?"

"Haven't heard anything myself," she said, "If anything, she would have told you first."

"Would she, now?" I said in a rising tone, quickly recalling that most of my interactions with Hanasaki were little more than comedy routines that lack any substance – other than her name, I can't just imagine her telling me anything personal, "I thought you two were close, with her calling you "Miyo-chan" and all."

"Well, not exactly.." Omiya said reluctantly, as if the person herself was walking alongside us, "She does that for every girl she knows, even used to call Hiratsuka-san "Shizuka-chan" until she was told to stop. Saki's just friendly to everybody."

That's the type of girl that I said I hated the most, and I'm not sure it's any different now. I do still maintain that it is a facade to draw others into the people-who-are-willing-to-run-my-errands club. However, even if that's what she does, I still would have a hard time fitting Hanasaki under that umbrella, perhaps because her behavior around me that made me reluctant. Maybe.. all she wanted was somebody to laugh with (or in my case, at). What Omiya said next confirmed my first suspicion somewhat.

"But I've only seen her so playful around you, Hikigaya."

"Wow, what an honor.."

"I feel like Saki really does see something in you, you know?" she said, having caught my sarcasm, "Give yourself some credit – you're doing pretty good considering your appearance."

"Considering my appearance?"

"My first impression is that you're a total loner, and I still maintain that, Hikigaya," she said, "But despite that, you managed to make Saki open up to you, so to speak. You even got Hiratsuka-san to approach you, that's a first for her in awhile."

When you think about it, it's not so unreasonable to come to that conclusion, especially when you look at it from the third person perspective like Omiya just did here. However, if we look back into exactly what transpired, you would realize that while my first encounters with the girls went somewhat well, it was not the result of my contribution.

Hanasaki, while playful, is just a nice person overall; when I had a panic attack on my first day, she was the one who helped me to the rooftop to get some fresh air. Even after that shameful display, she was still friendly all the way. She is the one who initiated every other interaction ever since.

In the case of Narita, the girl just happens to be a kindred spirit. She just wanted somebody to enjoy literature with her, but due to a certain physical inadequacy, most people couldn't bother going through the trouble communicating with her in a roundabout manner like pen and paper. She did help me convince Hiratsuka, but I suspect she only did that out of gratitude.

As for Omiya over here.. I'm not sure. The moment we met, she assigned me to help Hanasaki with her Support Team duties – that's probably just her management instincts speaking. Apart from that, I just couldn't imagine how I could have walked with her and had such a conversation.

"Speaking of, she is pretty close to Kasuga-sensei, isn't she?" I said, "It was by accident, but I'm sure she did call him "Haru-nii" or something."

"Ah, well, they're cousins – I guess it's no surprise that they're close." Omiya said before turning to me with a mischievous grin, "You jealous?"

"No." I concluded swiftly. It gave me the shivers just imagining what she could do if she knew more about me. She's cute, I'll give you that, but unfortunately that's all she's got going for her.

"Sorry, I forgot you already have Hiratsuka-san."

"Ugh."

I swear, girls just have the natural ability derail the conversation toward romance.

"I'm only joking, ya don't have to heat up so hard, haha!" Omiya said, "Just look at 'em farger on yer face, good man Hikigaya!"

As Omiya was celebrating her successful prank, there was one thing that immediately caught my attention.

"Class Rep."

"Hmm? What is it?" she said, still smiling from her joke, not realizing the subtle detail.

"Your dialect slipped."

When I said that, a look of confusion appeared on her face momentarily, before suddenly disappearing, leaving behind only that of epiphany.

"Id– idiot! Don't just point it out!" she said as she started steaming with embarrassment. Clumsily covering her redden cheeks, she continued, "Aww no.. I'm usually really careful, too.."

 _This gap moe is much cuter than I expected_!

I heard that country girls do that sometimes without realizing it, but I never thought I'd see it happening in real life. My heart took quite a hit from that..

As I thought, Omiya Miyo is really scary!

"You don't have to blush so hard," I said, not letting go of the opportunity to get back at her, "Just look at the colors on your face, Omiya-san!"

"C– cut it out." Omiya said, lightly punching my arm, her face still not yet free of the hot glowing lines, "A city boy like you wouldn't get the struggle."

"I'm only joking," I said, having had enough fun, "It's only natural to revert to your local speech."

"I get that a lot.. though, most people who said that have never failed to mock me when I turn away." she said, as we approached a door at the end of the hallway, "But nevermind that – we're here."

Omiya reached for the door handle slowly, only to stop halfway through. She then turned to me with her eyes full of doubt. After seemingly hesitating a little, she asked,

"Just to clarify, you're really looking for "the Art Club", right?"

"I'm sure."

"If you say so."

The thugs themselves claimed they are from here – if I were to get any leads, it probably wouldn't have been anywhere else. Of course, there is a chance that they may have lied.

"A little warning though," Omiya said, "You may find the Club's President a little hard to deal with."

"As in?"

"Well, you could say, she's a bit.. eccentric?"

"I'm no stranger to eccentricity," I said, thinking back to my interactions with Zaimokuza. If he's the standard for that kind of thing, then there shouldn't be any surprises, "Everything should be fine."

"Alright." Omiya said, having an expression that implied the phrase "I'm not sure if I should do this". Turning back to grab the handle of the door, she slid the door open,

"Pardon our intrusion!"

While everything was fine at first glance, something about the club seemed off the moment I set my foot within the room. For one, this is not a classroom, but a storage room that was barely wider than two arm lengths, enough to have shelves lined up on one side.

In the middle of the room was a table that was set in parallel with the tight walls, accompanied by three chairs, one of which a mysterious character sprung up from the moment we entered.

"Oh, if it isn't Miyo-san!" the person said as they sprung up from their chair, opening up their arms wide to the side, "Haven't seen you in a long time!"

"Yeah, it's been a while, haha."

A light silver bob that curls inward, and white earrings that made her looked mature, the girl looked like the perfect definition of a normie. Nothing eccentric here.

"How have you been doing, Miyo-san? Have your work at the Student Council been going well?" the girl asked, walking toward the class rep.

"Everything has been going well, for the most part." Omiya said, "How about you, Ayaka?"

"I've been great!"

 _Huh_?

Well, apart from a few details, that is.. She was wearing the school uniform just like Omiya, but instead of the standard red ribbon, she wore a black bow which fitted around the collar perfectly, and on both her hands, the girl wore a pair of white cotton gloves.

"So, what brings you here today, Miyo-san?" she said.

"Ah, about that – this person here wants to check your club out," Omiya said, "I'm just here to accompany him."

"Really? I'm glad somebody has finally taken interest in this club!" the girl said, turning to me, "What's your name, fellow aspiring artist?"

"Hi– Hikigaya Hachiman" I said, trying my best not to cringe at 'fellow aspiring artist'.

Upon hearing my self-introduction, the girl quickly made her way back to the table, grabbed a certain object and threw it in the air. After revolving for a bit, the thing landed perfectly on her head, fitting snugly. That was the top hat.

And just when I thought her get-up was incomplete, she picked up a thin, long object that was lying against the wall. It edges were straight, and it had a silver cap at one end.

 _A cane_?!

"Welcome to the Art Club, Hikigaya Hachiman-kun!" the girl gave her energetic delivery, making a joyous smile that seemed to be the default at that moment. After spinning the cane a few times, the girl bowed slightly, tipping her top hat, "I'm Urayasu Ayaka, and I'll be your guide for today!"

Without turning away from the girl, I looked at Omiya, packing the phrase "What the heck?" into my gaze. Omiya simply stood there with her arms crossed, smirking at me with the utmost smugness, having the words "I told you so" written all over her face.

"Follow me, and I'll show you a whole new world: the World of Art!"

 _Wow, what an opportunity!_

The girl grabbed my wrist tightly, and pulled me to one side of the table where a shelf stood. On its decks were canvases that lay against the wall behind it.

Letting me go, she turned toward the appliance.

"This is the work that we sent to a local competition," the girl in a top hat said, pointing the cane toward a painting that looked like it was painted by a first grader, "It didn't win any prize, but we at least we participated.. That's the most important thing!"

"And this one right here.. I'm very proud of this one!" she said, moving the tip of the cane toward an equally sad painting,

"You see…"

Before she could break into whatever story lies within the painting, I slowly backed away with feather light footsteps. At that moment, I couldn't help but find something else to look at as most of the explanation just went past my head – the urge was somehow that strong.

"... And the judge said it was a great attempt!... "

When I looked toward the door, all I see was Omiya standing there, desperately covering her shaking smirk with a paw grip – _no salvation here_. There were nothing of note at the opposite end of the room either, only a window that revealed the gym building beside this one. Below the window lay what seemed to be an assortment of props, ranging from spare top hats, and a small castle made of paper mache.

"... And we got a Certificate of Participation for that!"

Leaving Urayasu Ayaka-san to be in her own world, I tiptoed my way toward the props. There was a lot going on, but I recall seeing a few things: bottles of liquid latex and face paint; a stack of A4 paper, each of which has lines of dialogue on them; lastly, an imitation Genie Lamp and a plastic Chinese sword, both of which were dollar store quality.

The more I looked into the club, the more I thought their specialty wasn't really Art.. or, at the very least, Art wasn't the whole story.

As I looked back at the paper mache castle, which lay right beside other props, I noticed one small detail that was out of place: a dent on one of its walls, in side of which were a patterned black mark made of dirt and dust.

"And this work over here– Hmm?"

 _There is no doubt this thing was stepped on._

"Is there something wrong?"

That was when I should have realized the change in atmosphere, when the constant rambling about the painting allegedly stopped. That was when curiosity got the best of me – by that point, I had already kneeled down, reaching for the dent in the castle, as if I am reminded of something.

 _Isn't this_ – "Ah!"

As I was a hand away from the prop, something hit in the back, something whose profile and the dent in the castle have in common, although they differ in size. I was hit so hard, the truth about the castle prop came to light, but at the cost of me landing almost flat on the ground, face first. For reasons unknown, Urayasu Ayaka muttered up all her strength, and released all of it with a kick to my back.

"Ayaka, what are you doing!?" Omiya could be heard saying at the door.

When I flipped myself over, I immediately started back away as the girl inches closer, her cane pointing somewhere towards my neck.

"So you know about these props?" the girl said, this time in a protective tone a mother would use.

 _Did I just walk into a trap_?!

"Stop that, Ayaka!" Omiya said as she grab the girl's wrist, having made her way here, "What's gotten over you?!"

"Let go of me, Miyo-san," she said, "this person here is a bully."

"What are you talking about?"

"Last Wednesday, his friends came over during lunch and started stomping mercilessly on one of my work. It took me hours to restore it, and even then, I still couldn't get all the footprints off it," she said, turning her attention back to me, moving the cane closer, "And you're here to finish their job, aren't you? Even though I kept my part of the bargain.. people like you.."

"Wait, wait.. Ayaka," Omiya said, loosening her grip, and, with the help of her other hand, gently hold away the cane, "To be honest, I have my suspicions as well, but let's approach this issue calmly."

Omiya then turned to me, her eyebrows furrowed,

"I knew something was weird so I came along, but I never thought I would come to this.. Last week, you were gone pretty much everyday during lunch, Hikigaya. Considering what you did on Monday, and now with Ayaka's testimony, I couldn't help but grow more suspicious."

While her gaze wasn't aggressive in any way, the seriousness in them was still apparent. I could tell from the tone of her voice that she hasn't believed completely that I was guilty, but the hint of disappointment was definitely there.

"Where were you last Wednesday, and what were you doing, Hikigaya?"

By the looks of it, if I made even a slightly wrong step, Omiya would just get the Student Council involved. Getting them on her case would be like slapping Hiratsuka in the face, wouldn't it?

 _Is there a way out of this_ , a way that doesn't necessitate telling the whole truth?

Any lame excuse just wouldn't do for these girls.

 _Think, Hachiman.. think_.

I grinded my teeth as both of them gazed upon me, my heart rate seemingly going through the roof. Every moment I spent staring at their faces their patience depleted, and I could not imagine that it would last much longer.

"He was at the Literature Club fending off the those "bullies" you spoke of."

But as they say, there's always light at the end of the tunnel. As the first drop of sweat was about to hit the floor, a certain somebody made an unsolicited appearance. The figure whose shadow casted in between Omiya and the silver-haired girl had the features I am all too familiar with: Long-black hair? Check. Gray eyes? Check. Lab coat? Well, no, but you get the point.

"Shizuka-san?!"

"Hello, Urayasu-san."

"What are you doing here?" the girl in the top hat said, trying her best to welcome her old acquaintance, but alas, it seemed she was already too preoccupied with me.

"I came here to discuss something with you, Urayasu-san" the latest visitor said, closing the door behind her, "But it seemed like somebody got here before me, so I decided to wait outside. That doesn't seem to be an option anymore, however."

"Wait.. if you're here," I said, springing up to my feet as I recalled the horror that took place last week, "then who's staying with Narita right now?!"

"There is no need to worry, I had her return to her class," Hiratsuka said, making her way to the table in the middle.

"You know Narumi-san?!" the girl said as she immediately faced me upon hearing the exchange.

"As a matter of fact, Urayasu-san, he does."

"Just a moment, Hiratsuka-san," Omiya quickly chimed in, visibly confused, "What do you mean, he was "fending off the bullies"?"

Hiratsuka, breaking from her usual apathy, glared at her Class Representative as soon as it was her turn to speak. Omiya, realizing the message, glared back at her constituent, albeit less aggressively. I didn't know their history by that point, but I understood within the first five minutes of them meeting, what exactly would ensue if they were not kept apart from one another.

"Last Monday, two people came over to the Literature Club," Hiratsuka said, avoiding further collision, "they started threatening us into disbanding, even going as far as ripping a page of our work. They claimed that the 'Art Club' is in need of a room."

"What?" the Urayasu girl said, "But I'm the only member here."

"Precisely," Hiratsuka said, "and that's why I wanted to come here: to confirm. Isn't that why you're here, too, Hikigaya-kun?"

I nodded.

"Actually, now that you mention your club," the girl said, "Last Tuesday, I also had two visitors, too."

"Did they do anything to you?"

"They threaten me too, saying that the 'Literature Club' needs a storage room."

.. _And we've come full circle_.

"I can confirm that our entire inventory consists of no more than a handful of notebooks – we have no need for a separate storage room."

"What about your castle, Ayaka?" Omiya said, "It may be a little painful, but could you fill us in with the details?"

"They came in the next day.." Urayasu-san said, fixing her gaze back at her paper mache work, "..and they pretty much went to town with it, haha."

"It was the same situation over at the Literature Club, the same people came over," Hiratsuka said, before giving Omiya a black look momentarily, "Thanks to a certain group, I wasn't able to deal with those people."

Omiya, with her downcast eyes, said nothing in response, as if knowing that she may have played a part in this mess.

"Luckily, Hikigaya-kun was there to protect Narita-san and her works," Hiratsuka said, "That bandage on his cheek was the result of that encounter."

As Hiratsuka pointed toward my direction, both of the girls looked back toward me, finding something that they seemingly hadn't noticed until then. Urayasu Ayaka, having a sudden realization, looked downward with her eyes full of guilt.

"Was that enough to clear his name, Urayasu-san?"

"..Yes.." the girl said, facing me slowly, ".. I'm sorry."

"Don't think too much about it." I said.

While the girl went inward, perhaps to reflect on what she had done, the person beside her also did the same, but for a different reason. Placing her right hand on her chest, Omiya let out a sigh, one that indicate a heavy burden has been lifted off her shoulders. Even with sadness lingering in her eyes, she was smiling gently as if the storm had finally passed. What I didn't notice until a little later was her left hand, which at that moment, was grabbing the sleeve of my blazer.

"Now that we have that sorted out," Hiratsuka said, pulling everyone away from the unpleasant atmosphere,

"I have a proposal to make."

Letting go, Omiya turned back to face Hiratsuka, but unlike what I expected, it wasn't to express ill will. In fact, it was as if she did not care that it was the usual dissenter who made the initiative, just that somebody had the plan to tackle this problem once and for all. With the determination that rivals that of Yuigahama during the election, Omiya Miyo, for once, did something that made Hiratsuka look back at her even with a slight bit of respect,

"Let's hear it." Omiya responded.

And that's where our operation began.


	6. Chuo-Sobu 2

**Chapter 6: A wisdom to save all but one. (Interlude)**

"Good morning, Hikigaya-kun!"

With the predicament that people around me found themselves in, I almost forgot about the mundane life that I was fortunate enough to lead. That greeting pushed away the cloud of troubles in my mind for a moment as I shift my attention to the incandescence that found itself before me.

"Good morning, Hanasaki." I said to the black-bob girl who was making rounds greeting her classmates before homeroom starts. The usual, really.

"You looked really focused just now, you know?" Hanasaki said with her usual innocent tone.

"Did I?"

But then again, how could I not be? Today is the day all of us will to go head to head with the people who couldn't help but cause trouble.

"Yeah, like really, you were just staring at your table the whole time" Hanasaki said, looking down at the table to illustrate the fact, "Are you planning to do something weird again?"

"No."

If Omiya hadn't say anything about their relationship, I would have assumed they were best buddies!

"It's just–" I paused, not sure whether or not to enlighten her on the topic, but eventually decided leaving her out would be unfair, "The Art Club and The Literature Club have a problem with bullies."

"Really?" she said before the last syllable even came out of my mouth, looking remarkably intrigued, "What kind of problem?"

"The bullies keep coming in to break their stuff, so both clubs teamed up to come up with a solution."

"Hmm.. but," Hanasaki said, making the first confused expression I have ever seen on her face, "Couldn't they just tell the teachers?"

She had a point. In Hiratsuka case, it's probably just her disdain for Kasuga-sensei that made her not want to involve the teachers. However, that cannot be said for Omiya.

"I'm not too sure, either," I said, "All I know is they're trying to do something about it today."

"Oh, they're really determined, hehe" she said, smiling for a moment in appreciation, "So, how are they going to catch the bad guys?"

"They'll have two people guard each of the club–"

"Saki-chan, good morning!"

"What'up, Saki-chi?!"

As always, as soon as anybody starts explaining anything, somebody just has to barge right in – _such is life_. Two people, a guy and a girl, approaches Hanasaki from the other side of the room, the latter lightly tapping her on the shoulder.

"Oh, good morning, guys!" Hanasaki said.

"Saki-chi, we missed you so much!" the girl said in a tone that would make even Isshiki Iroha jealous.

"Yeah, you were gone for like two days," the guy said, standing tall and mighty beside the girl, "Something happened to you?"

"I just had a cold over the weekend, but now I'm fine now."

"Then that's great! Hehe."

 _Who are these people, again_? I thought as I took a proper look at their faces. Judging from their interaction, I could tell that they're my classmates, but somehow those looks just don't ring a bell.

"Saki-chi, can we take a look at your Sociology homework?" the girl said, holding up Hanasaki's hands, pleading innocently.

"Ah, the mid-term project?"

"Yep! The one due on Friday."

"Alrighty!"

With that candy sweet tone, anybody would be swayed – I could taste all the flavors just by listening to her speaking. And the guy right beside her with his elegantly styled hair and his pure masculine demeanor, he was as sparkling as she was flavorful. Somehow, I got the feeling this is a club I could never bring myself to join.

Although it seems like they don't want me there to begin with.

"Saki-chan, were you talking with that dude about something?" the guy said right after they started walking toward the other side of the room, not making any attempt whatsoever to be subtle.

"Yeah, "Hikigaya", isn't he?" the girl added, sounding somewhat concerned, "the transfer student who gave that lame self-introduction."

"Ah, nothing really," Hanasaki said, "I was just saying hi– "

"You shouldn't be talking with someone like him," the girl said, "you don't want his lameness to get to you!"

"Yeah, we don't want our precious Saki-chan to be tainted by someone like that."

As far as I am concerned, I haven't done anything that would affect her social status. In fact, I'm more than sure I wasn't the one doing the tainting.

"Nonsense," Hanasaki said with a playful voice, waving her hand, "Hikigaya-kun is quite popular with the girls, you know?"

"Hasn't he talked to like.. two girls in total?"

"Yeah, I've only seen him with Omiya and Hiratsuka."

"Totally not popular, those two are equally lame," the girl said before turning toward one of the person in that list, one that was sitting down on her desk, looking toward the window with her chin on her hand like usual.

What's out of the usual though, is her hairstyle. Rather than tying her hair to the side, she clamped it up into a ball just above her nape, leaving the short tail pointing upwards, and two strands of hair hanging beside her bangs. A very common sight at hot springs.

"Just look at Omiya – that bun is really lame, you know?," the girl said, "it's better than her usual childish ponytail, but still.. She looks like she's about the enter the bath."

"Now that you mention it, she really does, haha! Dang, that bun is awesome!"

Small laughters erupted throughout the classroom as the girl pointed out the change in appearance. Other students, who were either working on an assignment or reviewing for a lesson, stopped momentarily to add to the humorous atmosphere. Phrases like "Yeah, yeah" can even be heard from certain parts of the classroom.

Hanasaki giggled too, like the rest of the class, even though it seemed like it was done out of acknowledgement rather than agreement.

Omiya herself, of course, wasn't a part of the giggle chorus. While she obviously wasn't impressed, as apparent from her twitching her eyes, she kept staring out the window without saying a word.

"And Hiratsuka is just weird."

"Yeah, she's really quiet.. and plain too!"

There were little laughters here too, although not as dominant as a moment ago.

Unlike Omiya, Hiratsuka was completely unfazed as kept writing on a notebook, perhaps working on something related to her club. She was as steady as a rock, but you could say she had been quite emotionless to begin with.

"Speaking of, doesn't she usually hang out with that girl from Class 3-A, too?"

"Ah, you mean Narita? Yeah, she does."

"That girl looks childish too with her pigtails. I wonder if she's also part of this circle of crazies."

There was one person that I forgot to observe, and that person has already jumped to his feet, ready to approach the two people that was making fun of somebody who wouldn't even think about doing the same back at them. He looked over to the friend of the pigtail girl, wondering whether or not she would actually let this slide.

While there was a reaction, it wasn't directed at the those two.

Hiratsuka looked back at me with an expression of disapproval, slowly shaking her head.

That was when I realized that I was one step away from a very hot swamp.

"Oh yeah, have you been to that new restaurant near the station?"

"Yup, I have!"

As I sat back down, the commotion had all but died down. Those two continued with a different topic of conversation, and the rest of the class went back to whatever they were doing before it all started.

You would think somebody would have spoken up against them. But then again, they are the king and queen – even if you are of the opposition party, you wouldn't want the herds of loyals to throw their pencils at you.

To be fair, somebody was eventually confronted during lunch time.

"Hikigaya-kun, may I have a word with you?"

Only, that person was me.

"What, Hiratsuka?" I said as I turned back toward the door I just exited, knowing full well what her intentions were despite her face only showing signs of mild annoyance.

"Of course, I'm talking about this morning," Hiratsuka said, not finding my feigning ignorance at all convincing, "What exactly were you trying to do?"

"I just thought I'd try confronting them."

"That much is obvious," she said, "I'm asking what were you trying to achieve by doing so."

 _What exactly was I trying to achieve_? I wasn't exactly sure, myself.

Was it just because..

 _No, I'm sure there's more to it than that, but… what exactly_?

"Nothing. I just wanted to take the moral high ground, that's all." I concluded my findings so far.

"Elaborate." she said, raising her eyebrow.

"There's quite a bit of discussion surrounding you and Narita," I said, "I just thought some confrontation would put a stop to it."

"But somehow you realized that wasn't going to happen, didn't you?" Hiratsuka said, "After all, you went out of your way to look at me for confirmation."

"Yes, I did."

But why?

Maybe it was because I realized my methods are never viewed favorably...

No, that can't be it – I couldn't care less about the opinions of those choosing ignorance.

No, I knew exactly why I didn't go through with it.

"Had I done anything,"

"Go on."

And so did Hiratsuka, who was waiting for me to spell it out with my own mouth.

"It would escalate into an argument, and those two would have the whole world turn against you."

The first time I tried sticking up for someone, I was immediately shot down by a serpent. To this day, I'm still not convinced that my attempt did not make the interrogator even more persistent,

"And that's why backing down was the most reasonable choice."

"I see." she said, staring into nothingness before turning her attention back to me, "But I still need you to clarify one thing for me: What do you mean, those two "will have the whole world" against me?"

"Those two are the king and queen of our class," I explained despite knowing that the answer was already clear to her, "They'll have our classmates eat you alive for not being subservient."

"Aren't you just rephrasing what you just said? Why would our classmates do as they say?" Hiratsuka said, leaving me a bit lost.

"It's simple: to climb the social ladder," I said, "and the simplest way to do that is to please the king."

"So that's the thought process."

With her chin on her fist, Hiratsuka looked down at the ground, her eyes moving back and forth as if there was some sort of equation written on the tiles. Within seconds, she looked back up, acting like she had all the figures ready.

"You were on the right track when you said that things may have gone worse. However, your conclusion is off the mark."

 _Off the mark?_

"What were our classmates doing before those two started running their mouths?"

And that was my turn to raise my eyebrow.

"I know it seems like I'm just trying to annoy you with all these questions," she said, her voice unwavered, "but I promise that this will lead us somewhere."

This morning..

If memory serves, then at least half of them were holding a pencil. Some were reading a book of some sort, and a couple of people were hammering away at their flip-phones.

Everybody seemed to be doing their own thing, but that's nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, nobody seemed to be against the behavior of those two.

"It's only human to prioritize, Hikigaya-kun. There must have been something more important than one minute of justice."

Something more important. Something more.. urgent.

 _Didn't Hanasaki and her friends mention that thing..?_

And that was when it hit me.

"I think you figured it out," she said, perhaps having noticed the sudden, subtle change in my expression.

 _She's right, it really is easy_.

"I'll leave the rest for you to think about," she said, turning toward the opposite direction, "For now, we need to get to our positions; those bullies may come any moment now."

Maybe, just maybe, both Omiya and Hiratsuka weren't as bothered by it as much as I thought they were. Maybe, if Narita were in our class this morning, then she probably would pay no mind either.

"But for now, I'll say this: think twice before you act – let other people decide for themselves whether or not to be bothered by something."

It's not like our classmates enjoyed listening to those two running their mouths either – most of them were working their butt off to finish the Sociology project that is due this Friday.

None of them have the time to be "climbing" any social ladder. They went along with the insults so that those two would quickly shut up – they knew that those two would go at it even harder to grab everyone's attention if they were ignored.

Had I actually done something, things would have dragged on indefinitely, but all the gossiping will still persist.

"And finally: If you look at humanity through dirty lens, then all you will see is dirt – that is all I wanted to say." Hiratsuka said before taking off toward her destination

It seems like I did not know the answer, after all..

* * *

Here is the plan that Hiratsuka came up with: at the beginning phase, each of the clubroom, which are at the opposite ends of the same hallway, will be guarded by two people. One person will be patrolling between the two clubs – if that person notices that one club is invaded, they are to run to the other club and begin the next phase. If both clubs are attacked at once, they are to begin the next phase alone.

They were able to infer from the discussion that the two thugs who came to the Art Club last week are the same as the ones who went to the Literature Club.

That's why Omiya is best suited for the patrol job, as she was the only one who the thugs had not seen nor interacted with.

Hiratsuka and Narita were, of course, guarding the Literature Club together.

Which leaves me at the Art Club, together with the one and only: Urayasu Ayaka,

"Hey.. umm."

a.k.a the girl who almost beat me with a cane.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," the person, who stood an arm length away from me, said, clearing up that issue. It was the first thing any of us uttered after our initial "Hello".

Like Omiya, she wasn't in her usual get-up today. Among the other accessories like black bow and the cotton gloves, the most notable was the absence of her black top-hat, which fully revealed her silver curled-bob, and made her pretend-diamond earrings shine bright.

Although, it seemed like taking that away from her as a part of the operation somehow also took away her "entertainer" character.

"It really is alright.. Urayasu– "

"Ah, that's a bit weird to say isn't it?" she cut in right after I made my attempt, "You can call me Ayaka."

"..Ayaka it is then." I said, having had to muster up a bit of courage.

"Alright, then I'll call you Hachiman, is that alright with you?"

"I don't see a problem."

 _As long as you don't call me Hikki._.

"Great!" Ayaka said, smiling for this very special occasion, "Nice to meet you, once again, Hachiman-kun."

"Same here."

However, the smooth coaster ride that was our self introduction led us to some really rocky road as our conversation derailed toward complete silence. As soon as I closed my mouth, the supplies of follow-ups immediately stopped coming from the brain.

It was at that point that something started pulsating within my chest, and no, it wasn't my heart rate increasing. It was a feeling that caused a small urge within me to start looking toward the other side, or up and down – anything that prevents the idleness.. idleness that somehow felt so unpleasant.

That would have been the time for both of us to whip out our smartphones and pretend to be busy, but I just remembered: that luxury is still a decade away.

"Hey, Ayaka" I said, turning back to her, finally able to dig up something relevant from the pile of rubble that was my thoughts.

"Yeah?" Ayaka said before turning to me for a second, only to immediately look back and up to the ceiling as soon as our eyes met, "Wh– what is it, Hachiman-kun?"

"I was just wondering how did you come to know Narita," I said, looking away as an attempt to not agitate her fight or flight response any further.

"Ah, Narumi-san and I were both in the Cultural Festival Committee last year," she said, not looking any calmer, "and we both ended up in Class 3-A this year, so we got pretty close."

"Cultural Festival, huh.. Did you guys work with Hiratsuka, as well?"

"..Yeah.. Shizuka-san was the chairperson, Narumi-san was the secretary.. and I was the treasurer."

 _Treasurer_? I thought as I recall the discussion I had with Omiya and Kasuga-sensei last week. The answer for what happened back then was right in front of me.

"Speaking of Cultural Festival," I said, "Something happened didn't it? I heard that everything went down the drain."

"Oh!.. umm uhh" Ayaka jumped as I made my inquiry, stretching her neck far in the opposite direction.

That was when I realized how much of an idiot I was. As a treasurer, she had been directly involved in all incidents leading up to that fateful point. _It isn't something she would feel comfortable telling anyone_.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." I said, but it seemed like the damage had already been done.

"Ah, no, no.. it's alright, really." Ayaka said while she herself could barely maintain her cool.

"Uhh.. you like the animated films from the mouse company, don't you?" I quickly grasped the last fragile straw, recalling the source material she based her props off of.

"Yeah.. I do."

"Which one do you like the most, Ayaka?"

"..The one set in Ancient China.."

"I see.. I like the one where an emperor turns into a llama. "

"..."

Ayaka looked as though she was ready to run off into the hallway, only being held back by her obligation to the operation. Even with no malice whatsoever toward one another, she and I can't seem to remain calm.

It really reminds me of back then, when I used to think that such an awkward situation has any romantic implications. If I were a bit younger, I would have confessed to her, and she'd just run away.

It became apparent that it wasn't a matter of "if one of us would reach the breaking point", but a matter of "when".

To be honest, it was starting to get to me as well.

"Sorry, Hachiman-kun, I'll head to the washroo–"

"Yo, how are you guys holding up?"

But as Ayaka was about to lose it, somebody appeared at the door and stopped her right in her tracks without even lifting a finger. Just by standing there, the aura surrounding that person just melted away the giant ice wall in an instant.

"Miyo-san! " Ayaka said, catching herself in a semi-shocked state before she calmly continued, "uhh.. What's your favorite movie from the mouse company?"

"The one with the British explorer and the Powhatan woman – that one is very relatable." Omiya said before immediately pulling her eyebrows together, "Wait, why are you asking me this?"

"Uhh.. nothing! Nothing at all, haha" Ayaka said, turning to me with a weary smile, to which I wasn't sure if she was being apologetic, or just simply relieved.

Turning back to the other girl, she continued, "How's the patrol coming along, Miyo-san?"

"All clear," Omiya said, fiddling with her hair, "I haven't come across anybody that fits your description."

"Seems like we can rest easy for now then, haha."

There was one thing that I couldn't get out of my mind, and Omiya's movement during that conversation didn't exactly help with the curiosity.

 _'Let other people decide for themselves whether or not to be bothered by something'_ , huh?

But Omiya had been visibly bothered since this morning, it's not like I made that decision for her.

 _It doesn't hurt to try, right_?

"Class Rep, you're cute today."

That may have seemed like a pathetic attempt to make her stop worrying, but as I was about to find out, it was even worse than that.

After a small window where both of them stared at me with their mouths wide open, they began flushing as if they were in a middle of a snowstorm – and that's about where their reactions diverged.

"Wow!" Ayaka shrieked through her fingers, looking back and forth between Omiya and I, "Hachi-kun, too bold!"

Meanwhile, the other girl still couldn't get her lower jaw to go back up.

"I feel so happy for you, Miyo-san!" Ayaka said, going on a complete fan-girl mode.

"Id– idiot!" Omiya blurted out, along with the following in rapid succession, "Stupid! Cheese-for-brains! Grass-eater!"

At this point, I was covering my eyes with my hand, feeling utterly disappointed with myself.

 _At least it's not Isshiki Iroha_.

"How could ya say that with such a flat face?!" Omiya said as she stomped her way towards me, still red all over.

"No, it's just.." I said, still haven't the guts to take my hands off my face, "Those guys were making fun of you this morning."

"Eh?"

It was merely an interjection, but I took that as a cue to stop blocking my own vision, revealing a sight that was a little different from usual.

"They were talking about your hairstyle, weren't they?" I said, "something like "her bun is so lame" – weren't you bothered by that?"

Somehow, that question of mine took Omiya a bit off guard.

"Ah.. that.. " she said, reaching for a strand of hair, and started fiddling with it slowly.

Then, after spending a few seconds looking visibly uncomfortable, she finally made up her mind. Tiptoeing to my side,

"You see, back in the north, 'bun' means.." she started whispering, the latter part of which I will not put into writing as to not taint my pen. Suffice to say, the detailed explanation of her local culture made it crystal clear why she appeared so uncomfortable this morning.

When Omiya was done, she immediately backed off and remained silent.

By that point, everyone's breath became the loudest thing in the room once again, sounding alongside the tick-tick of the clock. However, unlike a little earlier, the sanity crushing atmosphere wasn't there to spring anybody toward the door. Rather, it felt like both of us were waiting for the other person to say something.

Suddenly, I felt a sudden nudge to my chest, one that was gentle but full of determination.

"What do you take me for, Hikigaya?" Omiya said, slowly pulling away her fist, smiling skeptically, "a childish insult like that doesn't really mean anything to me."

In the end, I resorted to using a tactic a "nice girl" would use in order to mitigate this thing only I perceived as "anxiety". Simply put, I was meddling in someone else's business.

"Sure, it was annoying, but it's nothing compared to the things I heard back home." she said, "If this is really what gets you, then you won't last a day in the paddy, I tell ya."

Although, I feel like that wasn't the point Hiratsuka was trying to make.

"I appreciate the thought, though." Omiya said with a grin, "Thanks, Hikigaya."

That smile Class Rep showed me at the end; it wasn't like Hanasaki Saki's sweet smile. It wasn't soothing like that from Narita Narumi, nor uplifting like that from Urayasu Ayaka – just a simple, friendly and down to earth smile.

"And you," Omiya said, pointing at the other girl who had been standing there the whole time, looking genuinely satisfied, "Wipe that grin off your face!"

"Sorry, sorry! Ahaha.."

But it was that bare bone demeanor that made me realize something important; not because of what Hiratsuka said, but despite of it. I of all people should know – after all, I had a similar experience with Yuigahama very early on.

I was still not sure what the main takeaway is, but at the very least, I knew I was on the right track this time.

* * *

"Dude, we're here again!"

"Yup, let's teach this crazy chick a lesson!"

"Crap, they're here." Omiya responded to the voice that came from outside the room, "I completely forgot about patrolling.."

"Miyo-san, that door!" Ayaka said after looking around the room for the way out, although apparently it was in the literal sense, "It connects this room to Class 2-B, go through there to avoid those bullies."

"You're right, there is a door here." Omiya said, acting as if she had never seen the door at the left wall.

"You go get Shizuka-san. Hachi-kun and I will be holding them off." Ayaka said before nodding at me, to which I did the same back.

"Alright, good luck," Omiya said, but before she turned the knob, she looked back at me, her eyes suddenly filled with the desire for a promise,

"And don't you go throwing yourself at people twice your size like last time."

With that, Omiya went off to carry out the next phase of the operation, just in time when the main door started opening slowly.

With each small turn, the hinges squeak, creating a sound that sent my back shaking. Looking over to Ayaka, a drop of sweat came down to her chin, ready to fall off at any second.

When the puny amount of water jumped off her face, it was like time had slowed down, and the opening of the door became more gradual. As that small drop the ground, it was as if the last grain of sand had left for the lower bulb.

The door, now completely opened, revealed two towering figures that was more akin to an iron wall than people. It was at this moment, the moment I was sure it's the same people, that I reached for my cheek.

"Oh, look at what we have here," one guy said, "Isn't that the guy that we beat up last time?"

"Lady, you chose a really wrong person to be your bodyguard," the other said, "he's no more intimidating than a pile of trash."

"It won't matter," back to the first guy, "he'll fall within seconds."

"Why are you here?" Ayaka said, assuming a motherly demeanor much like yesterday.

"We made a promise, my dear, and we don't like it when people break promises."

"But I kept my end of the bargain," she said, "I haven't been on stage. I even disbanded Theater Club."

"Hmph, you said the same thing last time," the two started moving forward, "but we all know you have been working on a new set of props."

"You're planning to perform your stupid musicals again aren't you?" they got nearer and nearer, being only separated from us by a table in the middle of the room, ""Kept my promise", my butt."

One guy made his way around the table, coming within an arm length, looking straight at my eyes from up above,

"For your own good, I hope this time you're not gonna do something stupid."

He said, walking through, pushing Ayaka and I away just with the weight of his shoulders. It was at this moment, that the guy should have started stomping away..

"Hmm?!"

However, we have a trick up our sleeves this time around.

"What's up partner?"

"The props, they aren't here anymore."

"Huh?!"

All of Ayaka's works had been moved to her homeroom of Class 3-A, where it's being passively watched over by her classmates.

"I told you, I don't have the props anymore," Ayaka said, "Can you leave our club alone now?"

We expected them to become more aggressive, but we did not exactly expect what came next.

"Partner, this is really bad.. we'll be skinned!"

"Don't mess with me!" the guy said, kicking the wall at the left before walking toward Ayaka and desperately grabbed her by the shoulders, "You hid the props didn't you?! Where the hell did you put it?!"

"I.. I.. " Ayaka practically froze as the guy shook her violently, her jaws unable to close in a syllable.

"Tell us where the props are!" the guy at the other side of the table said, "Quickly.. before we run out of patience."

"Argh, dang it!" the person over at our side said, letting go of Ayaka, who appeared to be in dire need of air as she started panting profusely. The guy then started punching the wall to the left, saying, "Dang it, dang it, dang it!"

"Umm.. pardon my intrusion.."

Although, luck seems to play in our favor today.

A voice came from the left wall, or to be exact, the door at the left wall, to which a face protruded from.

"Who the heck are you?!" the bully said.

"I'm a student from Class 2-B," the new face said, pointing his thumb backward to where he appeared from, "I'm sorry if you're in the middle of your club activities, but would you mind keeping it down?"

Like wildfire, curiosity quickly spread throughout Class 2-B as its residents gathered at both doors. Words like "what are they doing?", and "they're loud" could be heard from around us.

"Partner, let's get out of here!" one guy said.

"Dang it!" the other guy retreated, making his way to the populated front door.

"You three over there!" I pointed at random guys around the door, who unexpectedly obliged to what I demanded of them: "Don't let them go, they assaulted a girl!"

In just a second, a small group of second year students stormed at the two guys who they knew were much stronger than them. I never thought I'd ever find myself in a situation where I could apply those "How to stop Bystander Effect" tricks. Who knew? Those things you read online when you're bored actually has a use case.

However, with the strengths of those two, the students could barely contain them, and it didn't seem like the wall was going to last very long. _What the heck are those girls still doing_?

Snap! – the sound came from right outside the room, a sound that caused everybody at the scene to stop struggling and turn their attention to. It was only when I moved toward the door, did I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Took her so long.." I murmured, looking at a person who aimed his camera toward the thugs. Of course, I'm talking about a member of the Newspaper Club who stood among the crowd that a certain long haired girl brought with her.

"There is no point in struggling anymore," Hiratsuka said as she appeared from the masses, "Cease your destructive act at once."

"She's right, yer all toast!" a voice came from another side of the hallway. Omiya Miyo, who I did not even need to go out and see in order to recognize, brought more groups of people to the scene, "People! Those guys are the bullies I talked about!"

"Hey, what's all the commotion about!" one giant figure who wore a polo shirt and gym shorts swam his way through the scores upon scores of students, appearing at the entrance of the Art Club, "What are you all doing here?!"

"Takeuchi-sensei!" a student in the crowd suddenly spoke up, "those two guys assaulted our students!"

"He's right! I saw it with my very own eyes," somebody said despite not being at the scene when that happened, "They were threatening the two senpais inside the room!"

"Huh?! Then you two will come with me!" the teacher said, grabbing one of the thugs, "Kasuga-sensei, quit standing around and help me drag these two trouble makers away!"

"Yes, right away, Takeuchi-sensei!" said Kasuga-sensei, the short haired teacher who just appeared at the door. But before helping the other students subdue one of the thugs, he turned toward me and held his thumb up, giving me a congratulating smile.

With that done, he turned back to face the bully, "These are the pupils who will lead us away from The Clutch of Old.. I will not let you destroy their dreams."

"We're not trying to destroy anyone's dream! Please let us go!"

"What a bunch of bull! Don't believe a word they say!"

Click, Click, Click – the Newspaper Club member shoots away as the two were dragged through the hallway for all to see, being showered with chants for their blood. With the amount of pictures that were taken, and the number of people at the scene, it would be hard for those two to come back.

In our society, non-confrontation is the name of the game, and any individual will turn a blind eye to your bad deeds. However, if you were found holding a smoking gun by the crowd, then suddenly, everybody wants to tear you into pieces.

The second phase of Hiratsuka's plan utilizes this facet of our culture: rally up the people, have them see the faces of evil for themselves, and they will not stop.

You can run away from the police, but you can never, ever run away from shame.

 _They should feel lucky that smartphones and social networks aren't a thing yet_..

"Hey, you alright?" somebody gently bumped into my shoulder as I got out into the hallway.

"I'm fine," I turned to the person, who just so happens to be Omiya, "I'm not sure about Ayaka, though – those guys shook her up pretty badly."

"I'm okay now, really," the person in question said, slowly making her way outside. Putting on a black top hat she brought out with her, Ayaka then enthusiastically reassured us, an action that Omiya and I couldn't help but giggle at, "Ladies and gentlemen, no amount of shaking will ever discourage Urayasu Ayaka!"

"Splendid work today, everyone," said Hiratsuka as she appeared at the group.

"You're quite splendid yourself to be able to come up with a plan like this," Omiya said, having seemingly forgotten about the boiling pool she found herself in with Hiratsuka, "Never knew you had these kinds of people to deal with."

"I was merely putting an everyday phenomena into specific use, Omiya-san, it was nothing extraordinary," Hiratsuka said, "and those two people had been troubling Narita-san and I for quite some time, now – it is only natural that we bring them to justice."

"I know you're being modest, but man, I just can't help but think that you sounded really snobby." Omiya said, coming off as playfully snarky rather than aggressive.

 _Oh, you have no idea, Class Rep_..

"Maybe it's only an issue of interpretation." young Hiratsuka said, and, without a single trace of sarcasm, gave Omiya the most welcoming smile I've ever seen on her face, which is to say at all.

It is moments like this that made me wonder if this sort of interaction is a remnant of what was once the norm broken by a series of unfortunate events.

The bad blood between them that I got to see the other day may have been due to the effort of those who, for any reason, wanted it to be that way. It just doesn't make sense that people with a deep distrust for each other could have acted so cooperating, especially considering that there is nothing in it whatsoever for one of the parties.

That being said..

"Ahhhh!"

"Huh, what was that scream!?" Ayaka said.

"It came from down the hallway!"

As Omiya said that, Hiratsuka looked at her as if some sort of connection is forming.

Suddenly, the former's eyes widened up with horror.

"Narita-san!"

In our effort to ensure peace and security, we have become so focused on success that we overlooked some small details. However, that small oversight led us to our downfall, and needless to say, nobody was expecting this to happen.

Maybe it was the work of the same people who wished to sever ties with the two girls standing in front of me, or maybe things were a lot more complicated than I thought – nobody really knows.

However, there is one thing I am certain of:

This is where the real joint operation begins.


	7. Duet

**Chapter 7: A wisdom to save all but one. / Atop the mountain she created, the girl reaches for the hand below. (Duet)**

Nobody saw it coming, not even Hiratsuka.

In our effort to bring about justice, we have become so focused on achieving our goals that we looked over some small, but crucial details.

After successfully catching the bullies, a scream came from down the hallway. It was a scream that neither Hiratsuka nor the other girls had ever heard, but they still recognized.

"Narita-san!"

Hiratsuka yelled at the top of her lungs as she desperately ran down the hallway, toward what used to be her temporary home, Literature Club.

"Shizuka-san, wait!" Ayaka said as she and Ōmiya ran after the damsel in distress.

The students who were still at the scene all have their attention turned toward the sound of the girls working their feet.

You could see it in their faces – like deprived hunters hungry for food, those young people in black blazers were hungry to paint their mundane life with colors of drama. One after another, they took their first steps.

"Woah! Hold it, guys!" a figure who suddenly appeared in front of the crowd, a man with a short hair who wore a striped tie over a white shirt, said,

"5th period is about to begin, you all should go back to class."

The person who did the crowd control was none other than Kasuga-sensei, who ran toward me right after all the other students started heading back with dissatisfied expressions on their faces.

"Hikigaya-kun, let's go," he said, lightly slapping my back, "Narita-san's in trouble, isn't she?"

With that, Kasuga-sensei and I quickly followed the girls toward the point of attention.

The hallway in which we all ran wasn't exactly that long, and the adrenaline rush made it seem like it took us mere seconds to arrive at the Literature Club. In hindsight, I wish it could have been longer to allow Hiratsuka to prepare for what she was about to see.

In the middle of the room was Narita, who was on her knees as her balance was lost along with any and all hope. The most compassionate girl I had ever met was now an empty shell without a soul.

"Narita-san!"

Hiratsuka, whose face showed only desperation, spared no time to think as rushed to the girl and embraced her tightly. She started caressing the back of the other girl's head along the line where the hair split into pigtails.

"You'll be fine.. you'll definitely be fine..," Hiratsuka said, still running her hand.

".. –pad.. "

"..Narita-san?"

".. Brushpad.. "

All eyes in the room were on Narita as if looking at an infant uttering it's first words. Then again, what else could be a better comparison for when an allegedly mute person suddenly speaks?

"Brushpad.. brushpad.. " Narita kept murmuring, staring straight into nothingness as she rested her on Hiratsuka's shoulder.

From this point onward, her Voice is no longer just a metaphor for her Compassion, although the timing for that couldn't have been worse.

"What are you saying, Narita-san?" Hiratsuka said, not showing a single bit of interest in the girl uttering get first words, "What is this "brushpad"?.."

"Ah," Ōmiya gasped as the answer flashed before her eyes, "The notebooks!"

It was something that we all overlooked when we were rushing into the room – something that would have been overly obvious had we all the chance to calmly assess the situation. It only took me a second to realize what Ōmiya was referring to.

Scattered all around Narita and Hiratsuka were notebooks of various sizes, with piles of paper that looked like they were all ripped from those notebooks. I carefully approached the two girls, kneeling down to grab a sample of the mess.

 _Aren't these.._?!, I spoke to myself, gaining a complete understanding of the situation just by taking a glance at a piece of paper from the piles.

"Those guys," I said, looking at Hiratsuka to show that what I was about to say wasn't a joke, "They destroyed all of Narita's work."

"But that's impossible," Hiratsuka said as both sorrow and denial started kicking in, "Both of the bullies were at Art Club – nobody was here to do this!"

"Then there's only one possible explanation," I tried pulling Hiratsuka back to reality, "there has to be another thug we don't know about."

"I don't think that's possible, Hikigaya-kun," Kasuga-sensei said, walking up to me, "I was in the hallway before you guys started doing your thing. Everybody I saw along the way were our students."

"I can confirm," Ōmiya said, "I only saw black blazers when I patrolled around here."

.. _but how_?

Even if they weren't being subdued by Class 2-B's boys, they still couldn't have possibly done it unless they had telekinesis, which I highly doubt was the case.

 _Then, could it be_..?

Somehow, Kasuga-sensei saying that he was around here got him under my radar, but just thinking about it for two seconds made realize my suspicion was completely unfounded. He was also there at the Art Club dealing with the thugs. That's a solid alibi right there.

"In any case, I have to contact Narita-san's parents. There's no way she could go through the rest of the day like this," Kasuga-sensei said, "Can you guys take care of her until they arrive?"

"I'm worried about Narumi-san, too," Ayaka said, "But what about our attendance? The bell already went off."

"I'll inform your 5th period teachers about this situation, so don't worry about it, Urayasu-san." he reassured Ayaka, "For now, please stay here with Narita-san."

"Alright, you got it, sir!" Ayaka said with a salute.

"Then I'll be on my way." the teacher said, hurrying toward the door.

"Kasuga-sensei!" Hiratsuka called out to the teacher, who stopped right at the door.

"Yes, Hiratsuka-san?"

"Thank you."

Rather than a "you're welcome", Kasuga-sensei simply gave her a smile before he started running again, leaving us four to do the emotional first-aid before the real doctors arrive.

* * *

"I'm sorry that you always have to look after little Narumi, Hiratsuka-san."

Standing in front of the car where a certain pigtails girl sat, a middle-aged man uttered those words.

"No, I'm the one who has to apologize, Mr. Narita" Hiratsuka said, standing near the school gate alongside Ōmiya and Ayaka, "I should have properly ensured her safety."

"Ah, well, what's done is done, hahaha."

In typical human fashion, Mr. Narita laughed the whole thing off, perhaps trying to rid Hiratsuka of any guilt. Ironically, he was the only person there who smiled. It was an action that made him initially come off as uncaring, but I was sure that wasn't his intention.

"Mr. Narita, would it be okay if I were to tread on delicate matters for a moment?" Ōmiya said, having noticed that Hiratsuka, who would not dare to even look at Mr. Narita in the eyes, had gone still, "I would like to ask you about Narumi-san, if possible."

"Of course, just ask away." he said without any tone of objection.

"Just a little earlier she started murmuring something, but.. we were under the impression that Narumi-san is.. uhh.." Ōmiya said, then paused for a second as if to rethink her steps, "..suffering from a speech disorder."

"Wait, she is?" Ayaka said, looking a bit confused, "I mean, she is pretty shy, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that."

"Do you usually talk to her, Ayaka?"

"Well, she sits right in front of me, so.."

"Ah, so you all have already found out that she's not muted." he said nonchalantly, to the girls' surprise, before holding up his thumb, "Nice work, that's faster than I expected."

"Yes," Hiratsuka said, realizing the friendly gesture, "although, the events leading up to that point was truly unfortunate."

"Well, you see, we moved here from Noshiro when Narumi was very young." he said, flashing an expression of regret before recovering to a neutral face,

"But she still hasn't learned to suppress her dialect by that point, and so kids over here made fun of her because she sounded "funny"."

"So that's why she said 'brushpad' when she meant 'notebook'." Ōmiya said.

"..Young lady.." Mr. Narita said, slowly turning toward Ōmiya in astonishment, "Are you.. by any chance– "

"So mean!" Ayaka said, unknowingly cutting the man off with her temperament, "It must have been so hard for her."

"Ahaha, it really was. Things became so bad, she even considered shutting herself in." Mr. Narita said, looking back at his sulking daughter inside the car, "I haven't scolded her since because I thought it would make things worse."

"So the trauma from the bullying made her too scared to speak." I said.

Or as Yukinoshita would put it: She decided to stop speaking altogether to make herself seem vulnerable. That way, people wouldn't dare judge her, lest they be labeled 'insensitive'.

"That's exactly right, dead fish man," the father said, "and when little Narumi discovered sign language, things just went South from there.."

 _So, in a sense, she is playing a quiet character_.

"Ahh!" Ayaka, suddenly spoke up as she realized something, "The Sociology midterm project! Narumi-san is working with me!"

"When's the presentation date for Class 3-A, Ayaka?" I said.

"This Friday." she said.

"Is there a lot left to do?"

"My part is all done, but her's..", Ayaka said, "If she doesn't send in her own parts by hand, then she won't get any points.."

 _Kasuga-sensei did say that_..

Suddenly, Mr. Narita's expression brightened up along with the light bulb above his head.

"If you need to discuss your work with little Narumi, then feel free to come over!" he said, looking back and forth between Ayaka and the rest of us, "Not just the top hat lady, but you three as well, Hiratsuka-san, hot spring lady, and dead fish man! Feel free to come hang out with little Narumi any time!"

Unsurprisingly, that sudden invitation got Ōmiya and Ayaka to raise their eyebrows.

"Then, would it be okay for us all to come over today?" Hiratsuka, who seemed to have a different idea, said, despite the subtle disapproval from the other two.

"Of course – the more the merrier," Mr. Narita said before Hiratsuka even finished her inquiry, "I'll go out for some Pachinko in the afternoon so you can have the entire house for yourselves."

And just like that, our plan for the afternoon was set.

* * *

As soon as the last bell went off, Hiratsuka sprung up from her seat and swept all of her studying materials into her bag, completely ignoring the fact that the teacher still hasn't finished talking. She would allow nothing to slow her down, not even her classmates who all had their eyes on her for this minor act of dissent. Only looking forward, the determined girl walked out of the classroom as she zipped her bag close.

Ōmiya and I quickly followed Hiratsuka out when the teacher was done a moment later. Eventually, all of us who came out after was able to catch up with Hiratsuka on the way to Narita's house.

Our destination that afternoon wasn't so far away: only about 10 minutes walk from school. It was an apartment with a living room, a bathroom, a kitchen and two bedrooms; which I assumed one was for Narita, and the other is for her parents.

It wasn't exactly the sort of place I had in mind when Narita's father said "house", but families owning or renting a flat wasn't exactly uncommon.

"Just make yourselves at home," a certain middle aged man said, placing cups of green tea on the coffee table that we four sat around at each side.

"Sorry for having to trouble you, Mr. Narita"

"Don't worry about it, Hiratsuka-san," the father said, smiling for a moment before he realized something, "Oh, right, little Narumi's been in her room since she came back; I'll try to get her out."

Mr. Narita then walked toward one of the two doors at the side and gently knocked. It was at that moment that I knew exactly why he was so eager to have us over.

"Lil' Narumi, yer buds came over," the father said, "so com'on out and chill with 'em, will ya?"

As he finished talking, a thud can be heard at the door as something soft, presumably a pillow, was thrown at it.

"Leave me by ma self!" the daughter yelled back, her voice muffled as it went through the door.

"Least ya could do is greet yer buds!" the elder Narita pleaded.

"I'm not leaving ma corner!" the girl in the bedroom said.

"Fine," the man said, slowly getting infuriated, "Good luck chatting to yer buds through the woodgate, yer lil' horse rider!"

"Pops is such a giant floppin' dummy head!"

Curious as to how the girls would react to the scene, I glanced back at the table.

All I could see were the faces of denial.

Had they accepted what they saw as the truth, the image that they had built up in their mind would simply shatter. They were probably trying to reason with themselves that it was just another side of Narita Narumi that they hadn't seen before, that "this isn't really the norm".

However, that impression will not fade away, and the next time they meet her at school, it'd still be at the back of their mind that "this isn't really Narita Narumi".

"I'm sorry that you guys had to see that." Mr. Narita said, forcing a smile as he walked away from the door, "I can assure you she usually isn't this angry."

"Everybody has their ups and downs.. I suppose." Hiratsuka said, making a face not that much different from the father.

"Alrighty, then I'll be off," he said, "I'll be sure to get dinner for all of us on my way back."

And just like that, Mr. Narita became the second adult that walked out on us today.

 _Going for Pachinko at a time like this_..

But then again, that wasn't the time to be questioning somebody's parenting. We still needed to have Narita come out and finish that midterm project by Friday or both her and Ayaka will be seeing a big fat zero on their report cards.

"Does anybody have any idea?" I said as an attempt to break the tension. Although, it seemed like the atmosphere was there to stay for good.

"How about we cheer her up!?" Ayaka broke the silence, suddenly standing up with her usual optimistic smile, "We could tell her nice things, or we could sing her nice songs!"

"No.. I'm afraid that wouldn't work, Urayasu-san." Hiratsuka said.

"Why not?"

"Well.. "

"Let's give it a shot, Shizuka-san!" Ayaka said, pulling Hiratsuka to her feet, "We won't know until we try!"

With one holding the other's wrist, the two girls made their way toward the same door Narita's father knocked on earlier.

"Narumi-san," Ayaka knocked on the door, "Is there anything wrong?"

But what came after was complete and utter silence.

"If you have something on your mind, then you can talk to us!" the top hat lady continued, "We're all here for you, Narumi-san!"

Again, no reply.

"Uhh.. " Ayaka, quickly running out of options, turned to Hiratsuka and whispered, "Shizuka-san, try saying something!"

"Umm.. very well."

Hiratsuka flustered for a moment before giving it a try.

"Narita-san, I know I things haven't been going smoothly for you, but please don't shoulder all of it by yourself." Hiratsuka pleaded, but Narita still would not budge, "Please share your troubles with us. Nobody here will make fun of you for any reason."

Hiratsuka and Ayaka desperately kept going at it for about an hour while Ōmiya and I watched from the side. Those two rotated back and forth, taking turns to comfort the girl who locked herself in, sometimes even trying together.

But after they had gone through all of their attempts, and the sunlight started diminishing into the horizon, it was starting to feel like none of what they did served any purpose.

"Narumi-san.." Ayaka said, looking severely exhausted.

"I think that's enough, Urayasu-san," Hiratsuka said, placing her hand on Ayaka's shoulder, "Even if we keep going, nothing would change."

".. You're right, Shizuka-san," Ayaka accepted defeat, "You have been right since the beginning.. we really can't.."

"Everybody calls her the Voice of Compassion for a reason," Hiratsuka said, "We're simply no match for her in that department."

While I myself have no right to judge, I just couldn't help but agree with her. There is no way you could be kinder than the kindest – you can't outsmart somebody who knows every trick in the book.

 _Then how do you go about cheering up the "kindest person"_?

"I've got an idea." Ōmiya said, approaching the bedroom.

Bang! Bang! – something hit the door like thunder, making both Hiratsuka and Ayaka jump away slightly. The impact was so great, I could feel it back at the coffee table.

"Hey, you in there! Why don't you come out– "

"Ōmiya-san!" Hiratsuka chimed in fiercely, grabbing by the person by the wrist, "What on Earth do you think you're doing?!"

"What?" Ōmiya said, trying to shake her hand loose, "I'm just trying to motivate her."

"What kind of motivation is that?!" Hiratsuka retorted, her eyes practically burning, "You're just going to drive her deeper into the cave!"

"Hey, calm down.." I approached the girls while holding up a stop-gesture.

"We don't know that for sure," Ōmiya said, ignoring me completely.

"I could say the same for your method!" said the mother grizzly, tightening her grip.

"Ouch!... Then tell me, what are you going to do next?" the class rep said, staring back at her classmate, "Are you going to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results?"

"At least I'm not threatening her!"

"Fine, you do your thing!" Ōmiya said, finally breaking free from Hiratsuka's grip, as well as her own patience. Picking up her bag, she added, "Let's see how well that goes for you."

"Miyo-san, wait!" Ayaka said as she followed the other girl who was stomping her way out of the apartment.

Meanwhile, I was standing there like an idiot with my hands up in front of me.

"To hell with it!"

Although, in hindsight, having my hands up was a good idea. At that moment, Hiratsuka had her fist up, ready to strike whatever was in front of her to alleviate that emotion that built up inside her.

Here's the problem, there was nothing else, or to be more specific, nobody else there except a certain dead fish man.

 _Not again_! I flinched, having my guard up and ready.

...

Then again, I should've known by then.. that miracles do indeed happen.

Still not being hit, I decided to pull my hands apart just far enough that I was able to see what was going on.

Did a certain pigtails girl throw herself between Hiratsuka and I once again?

 _No, that's impossible_ – that girl was still inside her room.

"... "

No, it was Hiratsuka herself that decided to stop.

"..why.." she murmured as the fist she held up trembled.

 _Hmm_?

"..Why does it always happen?.." she pulled her fist toward her face. Using the palm part, she started rubbing between her cheek and her eyelids.

However, with the other half of her face untouched, little droplets flowed freely down her cheek, eventually falling to the ground into a small puddle.

Understanding that the woman in front of me was no longer a threat, I lowered my guard completely. Instead, I chose to do a weaker version of the stop gesture even if it served no purpose.

Suddenly, as if me holding my arms apart was some sort of signal, Hiratsuka dashed forward.

"Hi– Hiratsuka?!" I flustered a little as a girl landed on my blazer. But as she grabbed my shirt, I could feel her hands shaking, and somehow, that put me back to my senses.

"Why is everybody so cruel?" the girl said as she buried her face in, wiping her tears with my uniform, "And now.. even Ōmiya-san.."

"I'm sure Class Rep has a plan in mind." I went ahead with my pathetic attempt to comfort somebody, "I don't think she meant any harm."

Half of that was a lie. I know for a fact Ōmiya wouldn't go around trampling anybody's pride. But whether or not she had a proper, thought out plan? – that was a different story.

"You're just taking her side." Hiratsuka stuttered through her syllables.

"No, just making a logical conclusion based on my observation."

"Your conclusions stink.."

Hiratsuka stayed like that for awhile after we said what we had to, leaving only her weeping noises audible in the end. She wasn't asking for an explanation, nor an answer; she was simply seeking warmth that would put her at ease.

All I could do at that moment was patting her on the back. Nothing less, nothing more.

In our quest to bring a saint back to their former glory, one wise person fell into tears.

But even one person is one person too many.

One thing led to another, and that one flap from the butterfly eventually became the tornado that tore us apart.

Somebody had to get to the bottom of it all...

There will be no more casualties.

* * *

After Ōmiya went home yesterday, the other two girls attempted once more to get Narita out of her room. However, the results were the same no matter how hard they tried. Eventually, it was getting late and we all had to go home empty handed.

Even today, things seemed to have not gotten better, although it's not really different from before with Ōmiya and Hiratsuka ignoring completely ignoring each other in the morning.

Over at Class 3-A, things were equally grim with Narita not coming to school at all.

But all of that was about to be remedied as I took a visit to the physician up the mountain.

Somebody who stayed behind when his peers all went out for lunch.

Somebody who knew a thing or two about Sociology.

Somebody.. who had been supporting his pupils non-stop.

"I see, so that's what happened." said the man sitting comfortably at his corner, "Hiratsuka-san is really protective of her friend."

"Kasuga-sensei," I called the man who sat across the desk, "Can you not give Narita-san and Urayasu-san an extension?"

"I knew you were going to ask me that, Hikigaya-kun," the teacher smiled brightly before immediately switching to a serious expression, a contrast that got me a bit startled, "But I can't do that."

"Sensei, what happened to them was beyond their control. You were also at the scene, weren't you?" I said, leaning forward in my chair, "In my opinion, it is only fair that they'd be given more time."

"That excuse doesn't work for this particular assignment," Kasuga-sensei said, placing his arms flat on the table, giving me a stern look, "Hikigaya-kun, when did I assign this project?"

"..Two weeks ago on Wednesday for Class 3-F, so I assume it'd be the following Friday for Class 3-A." I said.

"Two weeks – that should've been enough time to prepare for the presentation." he said, his eyes as cold as ice, "What were they doing wasting away their life in that time period?"

It was a ninety degree turn from his usual cheerful personality, but that isn't to say that he didn't have a point.

While it is true that they had to deal with the bullies, the only red days were Tuesday and Wednesday.. not to mention they only came during lunch time..

"But Sensei.." I said, running out of excuses, "I think– "

"..is what my coworkers would say! Hahaha!"

 _Huh_?!

In just a blink of an eye, Kasuga-sensei reverted to his trademark silliness.

"Man, the look your face!" the teacher said, banging the table as he laughed, "How was my "bad guy" act? Does it measure up to what you usually do?"

 _This guy!_ – that was really nerve-wracking.. But then again, it's Kasuga-sensei; I really should have known.

"In all seriousness, I know they have been pushing piles of assignment onto you guys." he said, pointing his thumb at the other half of the faculty office, which was empty at the moment, "That said, I maintain that I can't postpone the presentation."

"Why, Sensei?" I said, "There shouldn't be any problem in allowing those two to present at a later date."

"Because it really isn't an excuse, and you know it." he said but without the pretend-sinister tone unlike what he did earlier,

"Do you remember that Hanasaki-san was absent for two days? Her parents got into an accident so she had to stay by their side. Yet, she was able to present on time."

 _Good point.. Hanasaki's presentation yesterday was actually pretty good_.

"That, and I've got to save my own skin as well, Hikigaya-kun," he said with a weary smile, "If you're really that cynical, then you should know."

"I don't think I do.."

"Somebody's been telling the principal that I'm being too lenient," he said, glaring at the other desks in the room before turning back at me, "So if you don't wish to see a new homeroom teacher next Monday, then let's not discuss about the extension any further, haha."

 _Why does everybody's got to have their own problems..?_

"Then again, I don't think an extension is necessary," he added, "I'm sure you already have some sort of idea, but you're just not sure about the specifics – isn't that why you're really here?"

"Yes, that's.. certainly the case."

"What do you have in mind, Hikigaya-kun?" Kasuga-sensei said, slouching back.

"My idea actually relates to our discussion just now," I said, "I think the best way to get Narita-san to come out and face reality is to instill a sense of responsibility into her, one that would make her look past her insecurities."

"Ooo, I like the idea. How would you go about doing that?"

"That's.. the part I'm unsure of."

 _Or rather, I'm not sure how to do it without causing permanent damage_.

"Sense of responsibility, huh?" he said, thinking for a moment before suddenly sitting up straight, "Oh! Isn't one of your classmates.. "

"Did you just come up with anything?"

"Yup. You wanna hear it?"

"Yes, please."

"Although, let me warn you first, Hikigaya-kun," he said, "With this plan, you and your friends have to be the bad guys for about five minutes. Are you alright with that?"

It was a sincere warning, but somehow, I just couldn't help but grin.

"Sensei, I'm more than used to being the bad guy."

"Good." the teacher smiled back before he began explaining,

"You see, the argument between those two that you told me about at the beginning. That really gave me an idea..."

* * *

Continuing from where we left off yesterday, the three of us came over Narita's place once more. Only, Ayaka and I told Hiratsuka that we'll be running a bit late.

"Oh, so you two finally arri– Huh?!"

Of course, there's one detail we had been keeping from her.

"Why are you here?!" Hiratsuka raised her guard as she noticed that detail: a certain banished individual.

"I'm here to motivate Narita-san, of course." said the person who appeared at the door alongside us.

"Again with your 'motivation'!.." Hiratsuka raised her voice, stomping toward the person, "I'll not let you hurt her, Ōmiya-san!"

"Well, too bad." Ōmiya said, casually walking past Hiratsuka.

"Don't you move a muscle!" Hiratsuka said, reaching for the person's arm, "Eh..?"

But of course, having Ōmiya here isn't the only detail we kept from her. As Hiratsuka turned back to see the person who caught her first, she suddenly realized the fact.

"Urayasu.. san?" Hiratsuka said, her eyes widened up just before thunder struck, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm stopping you, of course, Shizuka-san." Ayaka said.

"Don't screw with me!" Hiratsuka said, ready to strike with her unbounded hand, " –Huh?!"

Of course, you wouldn't think Ayaka was the only person in on it, would you?

"Hikigaya-kun..?" she said, horrified as she saw who was holding her other arm, "Not you too!"

"How.. unfortunate!" I said, struggling to utter a word as Hiratsuka tried to shake herself free.

"Shizuka-san, calm down!"

"Do you really expect me to calm down?!" Hiratsuka said, not giving up as she was on the verge of tears, "Stop, Ōmiya-san!"

But it was too late for Hiratsuka.

At that moment, her class representative already had herself before a door. Staring at the flat piece of wood, Ōmiya took a deep breath.

BANG! BANG! – Ōmiya hit the door with all her might.

"Ear up, ya lil' spoiled cricket in there!" she spoke up, "Do ye know yer making trouble for others?!"

At that moment, the violent shaking on our end suddenly stopped.

The manner in which Ōmiya spoke, even though harsh, somehow got Hiratsuka to finally stop struggling.

"Yer classmate's in pudding fer two days cause 'o ya!"

So, to answer my own question from earlier: _How do you cheer up the kindest person_?

"'Voice of Compassion' yer mother! Yer just another lil' floppin' goody two shoes!"

 _Well, in this case you.. don't_?

"Are ya tryna get yer fellow paddy-walker in the pudding as well?!"

Narita knew that even if she wasn't there, Kasuga-sensei would still give Ayaka a perfect score.

It wouldn't hurt anybody but herself.

"It took seasons fer me to get 'ere. I won't idle by while ya tarnish our name!"

But by introducing somebody with a common origin as her to the equation, Narita is suddenly held directly responsible for what was going to happen.

"So, get outta there 'n tell me straight in ma face, good lady Narita," Ōmiya said, taking another deep breath before giving her final punch,

"Are yer gonna lay down in mud, or are ya gonna walk front wi' me and show 'em what Noshiro women are made of?!"

If she allowed this to go on, people would think that others from the paddies, like Ōmiya, might do the same eventually. It's a breeding ground for stereotypes.

Would the girl regarded as the most compassionate allow somebody else to suffer, especially by her own actions? This is a part where we'll all see for ourselves whether Narita Narumi is the real deal, or if she's simply a "goody two shoes".

No amount of suspense will ever be worthy to unfold this moment, and that is because we're all doing this for Narita. In the end, it's her choice whether or not to accept it.

But at this point, I'm sure we all know the outcome.

Like tiny flames that dances across the dark horizon, tiny squeaks came about from the hinges that held the door up straight.

Slowly but surely, the door opened, and from the dimly lit room, a girl who had her pigtails even at home slowly made her way outside.

It was the moment for Hiratsuka to just run in and embrace the girl the same way she did yesterday. However, my future homeroom teacher would not move a muscle, not even that of her face to express the relieve that she surely must have felt.

And no, it's not because of Ayaka and I; we let her go a moment ago, but Hiratsuka would still not move. Instead, she chose to watch the whole thing in awe.

But if there's anybody who rushes to somebody else, it's got to be Narita, who, as tears rolled down her face, quickly found herself within Ōmiya's embrace.

"Ma bad for being 'bit harsh," Ōmiya said, padding the girl's back the same way Hiratsuka did for her, "Yer plenty strong, good lady Narita.. I know we can manage it tagether."

I'm sure the warmth they gave each other reminded them of the grassy slopes, the yellowish green rice paddies, and the sounds of nature that they had parted ways with a long time ago.

Those of us who stood at the other side of the living room, having walked on concrete our whole lives, probably wouldn't be able to understand that warmth.

"Hikigaya-kun.. Urayasu-san.."

I've said it myself that "not understanding is scary". However, admitting that you don't understand is the first step toward attaining that wisdom.

"It seems like the only cruel one here is me.."

"You were really scary, Shizuka-san! But who wouldn't want to protect their friends."

"I agree with Ayaka on both points.."

"Jeez, you two.."

In the end, Narita and Ayaka were able to prepare for their tomorrow's presentation, and as far as I have heard, Kasuga-sensei did not give out any zeros.

One more thing that was equally important was that Hiratsuka and Ōmiya were finally on good terms again. From next Monday forward, there wasn't a single morning where they would not engage in a small banter.

Everything seems to be going well so far..

Except..

With things going so well, it really begs the question, "What am I doing here ten years in the past?"

Sure, Yuigahama told me at the beginning to "save Hiratsuka-sensei", but even after going through this for the past month, I'm still wasn't sure how.. or what am I supposed to save her from, for that matter.

But perhaps, maybe it's best to just let things be for now. I'm sure the answer will gradually present itself as I turned the pages in this chapter of Hiratsuka-sensei's life.


End file.
